
Sill 




Glass i 

Book_^_L: 

PRESENTED BV ' 



PHYSIOGRAPHICAL MAP 

OF THE 

BRITISH ISLES 




THE GROWTH 



OF THE 



English Nation 



BY 



KATHARINE COMAN 

Professor of History and Economics in Wellesley College 
AND 

ELIZABETH KENDALL 

Associate Professor of History in Wellesley College 




MEADVILLE PENNA 
FLOOD AND VINCENT 
<£bt (£bautauqua-(&cnt:ur)? pregj 
1894 



Copyright, 1894, 
By Flood & Vincent. 
p t 

W. T), John-iton 
7 N'02 






The Chautauqua- Century Press, Meadville, Pa., U. S. A. 
Electrotyped, Printed, and Bound by Flood & Vincent. 



PREFACE. 

This little treatise traces the growth of the English 
nation from its beginnings in a weak and struggling island 
community to its present attainment of maritime suprem- 
acy and world-wide empire. Such a study must concern 
itself, primarily, with social, economic, and political con- 
ditions, since national achievement is the outcome of 
national character — the resultant of all the forces operating 
upon a people. Industrial prosperity, intellectual develop- 
ment, the evolution of methods of self-government, the 
victory of the moral and spiritual over the brute elements 
in race temperament — these, and not war nor dynastic 
intrigue, are the determining factors in national progress. 
We shall, then, since our space is limited, pay slight heed 
to the deeds of kings and potentates, that we may give 
more attention to the deeper influences at work. We shall 
endeavor to understand the people and those popular 
movements that shape the statesman's policy. 

The treatment must, necessarily, be of the briefest. 
Readers desiring a fuller narrative are referred to Gardi- 
ner's "Student's History of England," Bright's "History 
of England," and Green's "History of the English Peo- 
ple." In the attempt to recreate the life of the past, the 
historical novel and the historical play lend welcome aid. 
It is hoped that the illustrative readings indicated in con- 
nection with the several chapters will add much to the 
pleasure of the student's work. Yet a word of caution is 
necessary. It must be remembered that in any imagina- 



iv Preface. 

tive representation, justice and accuracy are often sacrificed 
for the sake of dramatic interest. One must test the im- 
pressions of the artist by the conclusions of scientific his- 
tory. 

Katharine Coman. 

Wellesley, Mass., June 6, 189!,. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER. 

I. The Island Home of the English 
II. Race Elements of the English Nation 
III. Norman England 
Fusion of Races 
Struggle for the Charter 
Rise of the Commons 
Struggle for the Crown . 
VIII. The Tudors and the Reformation 
IX. The Stuarts and Puritanism 

Parties and Party Government 

Growth of Democracy 

Industrial Progress During the Eigh 

teenth and nineteenth centuries 
The Expansion of England 
Table of British Colonial Possessions 



IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 



X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 



PAGE. 

9 

21 ' 

47 
71 

88 
109 
146 
16G 
196 
224 
239 

266 
284 



LIST OF MAPS. 



Physiographical Map of the British 
Isles ..... 



Frontispiece. 

PAGE. 



England ....... 8 

Outline Map of England . . . .15 

Outline Map of Wales . . . .17 

Outline Map of Scotland . . . .18 

Outline Map of Ireland . . . .19 

Roman Britain . . . Facing page 25 

Britain in 597 . . . . " " 31 

The English Empire in the Tenth and Elev- 
enth Centuries . . . Facing page 41 
England and the French Possessions of Wil- 
liam I., 1087 .... Facing page 50 

Dominions of the House of Anjou " " 73 

England and Wales in 1643 . " "207 

The British Isles in 1881 .... 275 

Map of World, Showing British Possessions 

and Protectorates * . . Facing page 284 



MAP OF 

ENGLAND 




Longitude West 



from Greenwicn 



THE 
GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 

CHAPTER I. 

The Island Home of the English. 

The life-story of a nation, like that of an individual, is 
in good part determined by inheritance and environment. 
The national traits inherited from ancestral races and the 
tendencies impressed by the physical features of the 
country give to a people its peculiar character. A nation's 
history, the sum of its achievements, is the essential ex- 
pression of its individuality. Circumstances may modify 
its development. Propitious events may further, or hostile 
interference may thwart, the accomplishment of its des- 
tiny, but at no time in the history of a nation is the effect 
of physical environment and race inheritance wholly ob- 
scured. 

The home of the English people is a group of islands, 
5,000 in number, lying off the west coast of Europe. They 
look on the map like icebergs floating away from a huge 
old glacier. Most of them are mere ledges of rock lifting 
a few acres of grass land beyond reach of the waves. 
Some are so bare that they only serve as homes for the 
sea-birds. Many are picturesque and romantic— StafFa and 
Iona, Holy Isle and the Isle of Wight, have furnished 
refuge to persecuted saints and kings — but Great Britain 
and Ireland alone are of sufficient size to have considerable 
influence on the national character. The area of the 

9 



10 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Area. 



Physical 
make-up. 



Advantage of 

insular 

position. 



British Isles is 121,481 square miles, about one four hun- 
dred and thirtieth part of the land surface of the globe. 
In extent they are somewhat larger than New England, 
somewhat less than Japan. This seems too small a country 
to cut any very striking figure in the world's history, and 
yet the English government controls to-day one fourth of 
the land area of the globe. The population of the British 
Empire is ten times that of the British Isles. Nineteenth 
century Englishmen boast, and with good reason, that the 
sun never sets on Her Majesty's dominions. 

How can we account for this extraordinary national 
development ? Much is doubtless due to certain inherent 
qualities in the English people, but much is the result of 
physical environment. We need to find out first of all, 
what in the physical make-up of the British Isles has 
contributed to the success of the English race. The most 
apparent fact regarding these islands is that they lie within 
easy reach of Europe. The Straits of Dover are but twenty 
miles across. The water is nowhere of great depth, 300 
feet in the English Channel and 70 feet in the North Sea. 
The British Isles, in fact, were originally part of tbe Con- 
tinent. What is now the bed of the North Sea was once 
low-lying plain over which animals now extinct and, it 
may be, prehistoric men made their way. At no time has 
communication been impossible, but it has always been 
attended by hazard. The rudest boat can cross the Chan- 
nel in calm weather without harm, but these are tempestu- 
ous seas and such storms may rise as put a man-of-war 
in peril. Several times in English history this natural 
isolation has been an effective defense against attack. The 
great Spanish Armada was dashed in pieces on the Irish 
coast in Elizabeth's reign, and three centuries later the 
all-conquering Napoleon shrank from the risk involved in 
an invasion of England. In the early centuries of its 



The Island Home of the English. ] 1 

history, Great Britain was frequently overrun and subju- 
gated by her continental neighbors, but the Norman con- 
querors may be said to have announced England's Monroe 
doctrine. Thenceforward the British Isles were not open 
to colonization. From the twelfth century, the inhabitants 
of these islands have repelled all invaders and stoutly 
maintained their national integrity. Accessible from the 
Continent yet easily independent of it, the English people 
have enjoyed the rare privilege of a free and natural race 
development. Unhampered by foreign interference, they 
have dealt with the several problems of political, social, and 
religious life under conditions comparatively simple, and 
have arrived at results which, though not perhaps perfect 
in themselves or of universal application, are at least ad- 
mirably suited to the national character. On the other 
hand, this isolation has not been such as to prevent Eng- 
land from sharing in every vital impulse that has stirred 
the Continent. The Crusades, the Renaissance, the Refor- 
mation, the Revolution, each in turn has deeply influenced 
English life and roused the English race to nobler achieve- 
ment. 

A no less important consequence of its insular situation Commercia i 
is the maritime greatness of the English nation. An advantages. 
island people are of necessity seafarers. They must ven- 
ture across the water in search of what their narrow realm 
does not provide. Great Britain, as we shall see, is pe- 
culiarly fitted to foster a race of mariners. Her firths, 
estuaries, and river mouths form natural harbors, and her 
situation is most favorable. Lying over against France, 
Holland, and the Baltic, is a series of seaports in direct 
communication with these rich and populous regions of 
the Continent. The western harbors formed by the Clyde, 
the Mersey, and the Severn, look toward Ireland and 
America. During the Middle Ages, Venice was the busi- 



Climate. 



12 The Growth of the English Nation. 

ness center of the Occident, and London but a remote 
trading post lying near the edge of the world ; but the 
discovery of America has opened industrial opportunities 
hitherto undreamed of, and altered commercial relations. 
London proves to be at the center of the land surface of the 
globe, and England lies in the direct highway of modern 
trade. These are great natural advantages, but England's 
maritime supremacy has not been won without a struggle. 
Spain, Holland, and France were before her in the field 
and must be driven out. Only by dint of a long series of 
commercial wars has England secured her haughty title of 
Mistress of the Seas. The people's pride in this hard-won 
victory is voiced in the national song, 

" Rule Britannia ! Britannia rules the waves." 

These commercial advantages are rendered more valuable 
by the unusual facilities for internal communication. No 
part of the country is more than one hundred miles from 
the coast, and waterways, natural and artificial, give access 
to the remotest regions. England boasts five navigable 
rivers, the Yorkshire Ouse, the Trent, the Mersey, the 
Thames, and the Severn. These reach far into the heart of 
the country and their head waters are connected by a 
system of canals. Ships may pass across Scotland from the 
North to the Irish Sea by the Forth and Clyde canal. 
Ireland's principal river, the Shannon, is navigable nearly 
to its source, and is connected by canal with Belfast, 
Dublin, and Waterford. To-day the railroad has almost 
superseded water traffic, but the rivers of Britain, these 
"roads that run," have served an important part in pro- 
moting her commercial greatness. 

This wave-washed realm is further blessed by a most for- 
tunate climate. An island climate is usually moist and 
equable, but the British Isles are peculiarly favored 
in that they lie directly in the path of the Gulf Stream. 



The Island Home of the English. 13 

This great ocean current is a veritable godsend to Britain. 
Bearing upon its bosom the atmosphere of a subtropical sea, 
it beats against the western coasts, bringing to a country of 
the latitude of Labrador the climate of Virginia. Dublin has 
the mean temperature of Savannah, though two thousand 
miles farther from the equator. The Gulf Stream brings to 
this lucky land not merely heat but moisture. The warm 
west winds break on the mountainous coasts of Ireland, 
Wales, and Scotland, and discharge abundant supplies of 
rain. Here the average annual rainfall amounts, in certain 
districts, to seven feet. The rainfall of England is, however, 
not half so heavy. The influence of this warm, moist cli- 
mate not only upon the occupations but upon the habit and 
thought of the people, can hardly be overestimated. The 
humidity is a great advantage in certain textile industries 
— notably cotton-spinning. The winters are rarely so severe 
as to interfere with field-works or transportation, while the 
wholesome, bracing atmosphere actually stimulates to ex- 
ertion. 

In natural resources the English race is well endowed. „, . . 

° Physical 

The mineral deposits of the British Isles are not only rich resources. 
and of great variety, but so placed as to be readily accessi- 
ble. Long before the English came to Britain, tin and 
copper were extracted in some rude fashion from the rocks 
of Cornwall. To-day, not only tin and copper, but coal and 
iron, lead and zinc, are mined with such success that 

notwithstanding the more extensive mineral regions of 

Agricultural 
America, Africa, and Australia, Britain is still one of the area amounts 

to 75 per cent 
most productive mining countries in the world. Rarely oftotaiareain 

& J England, 

does a country combine such mineral wealth with so fertile 60 per cent of 

total area in 
a soil as that of the British Isles. Wales and Scotland, to Wales. 

25 per cent of 

be sure, can boast but scanty agricultural resources, but total area in 

Scotland, 
there are nowhere more fruitful regions than the pasture 75 per cent of 

total area in 

lands of Ireland and the gardens and wheat fields of eastern Ireland. 



14 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



37,888,153 in 
1891. 



Political 
divisions. 



England. 



and southern England. Throughout the Middle Ages the 
soil of Britain not merely fed her own people, but fur- 
nished considerable tmautities of grain, cattle, and wool to 
foreign lands. To-day, however, her population has out- 
stripped the food-bearing capacity of her fields, and Britain 
is obliged to look to Australia and America for supplies. 
Nineteenth century Britain is the richest country in the Old 
World. Her present wealth is estimated at $49,000,000,000, 
or $1,235 for every man, woman, and child in the United 
Kingdom. The wealth of the United States is reckoned at 
$64,120,000,000, but our population is so much larger that 
our average per capita wealth is only $1,050. The wealth- 
producing facilities of Britain enable her to support a 
dense population. This surpassing prosperity has a double 
source. It would be difficult to say which of two coopera- 
ting causes has been more influential — Britain's exceptional 
advantages of situation, soil, and mineral wealth or the 
pronounced industrial genius of her people. 

The four political divisions of the United Kingdom were 
originally independent and though they have been under 
one government for centuries, each still preserves a marked 
individuality. We can account for this dissimilarity in some 
measure by race inheritance, since the English are Teutons 
by origin, while the Irish, Welsh, and Scotch are Celts ; 
but even more is due to the modifying influence of physical 
conditions. Ireland, Wales, and Scotland have been but 
shabbily dealt with by Dame Nature, while England has 
fallen heir to her richest bounties. For example, England 
has the advantage of situation as regards Europe. The 
mountains of Great Britain are piled up in the north and 
west. Scotland, Westmoreland, Wales, and Cornwall are 
mere masses of rock and moor. From these inhospitable 
heights the rich plains of England slope eastward to the 
Channel and the North Sea. Her water courses cross the 



The Island Home of the English. 



15 



country from west to east, forming natural highways for 
commerce. Four of her navigable rivers, the Tyne, the 
Tees, the Trent, and the Thames, give direct access to the 
Channel trade. Their harbors stand like so many open 
doors, inviting 
the products, tbe 
men, the ideas of 
Europe. Eng- 
land may be said 
to turn her back 
on Ireland and 
to face the Conti- 
nent. She is in- 
deed the favored 
sister. The west 
winds come to 
her with warmth 
and moisture, 
but not till ex- 
cess of rain has 
been precipitated on the rugged heights of the Welsh 
mountains. The Channel fogs, it is true, invade the low 
districts of the eastern coast, but they have this virtue, at 
least, that they insure England's harvest against drought. 
Industrially, England is divided into two distinct parts. 
A line drawn from the estuary of the Humber to the 
mouth of the Severn would approximately represent the 
division. Southeast of this line lies agricultural Eng- 
land. The rich lime soil and the gentle rivers of this 
region make it one of the most productive in the world. 
No more fertile fields gladden the heart of man than those 
of the Fen country and the Thames valley, while the 
pasture lands of the Chiltern Hills, the North and South 
Downs, and the Cotswold Hills nourish famous breeds of 




Outline Map of England. 



16 The Growth of the English Nation. 

sheep. Northwest of our imaginary line is the mineral 
wealth of England. Here lie the great coal fields of North- 
umberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Derby, Stafford, Leicester, 
Warwick, and Lancashire. They are 1,650 square miles in 
extent and constitute the mainspring of England's manufac- 
turing industries. In the midst of this immense coal area 
rises the Pennine chain, a range of mountain and moorland 
which thrusts itself like a great wedge 200 miles into the 
heart of England. It is an axis of carboniferous rock and 
along its barren slopes lie rich mineral deposits, iron, zinc, 
and lead. This remarkable combination of fuel with min- 
popuiation in eral resources has attracted to the region the capital and 
county, U e & g., labor force of England. Here are the mining districts of 
sq. m.;' with Northumberland and Durham. Here lie the great manu- 
county^ef ^gf, facturing towns of Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield, Birming- 
to"sq. in.; 'or ham, and Manchester. The centers of wealth and popula- 
facturing iailU " tion were originally in the agricultural regions of the 
Lancashire,^'' south, but the opening of the coal measures has reversed 
, o sq. m. con( jit} ons and the most populous districts of England to- 
day lie north of the Trent. The Pennine district does not, 
however, monopolize the mineral wealth of England. The 
rocky promontory of Cornwall supports a large mining 
population. These barren hills bear rich veins of copper, 
lead, and tin. Many lesser resources have contributed their 
quota to England's prosperity. In Cheshire, along the 
valley of the Weaver, lie rich deposits of salt. They have 
been known for 1,800 years, but have only in modern times 
been extensively worked. In addition to its coal measures, 
Staffordshire boasts a fine clay soil admirably adapted to 
the manufacture of earthenware. Here Wedgwood and 
many lesser craftsmen have practiced the potter's art. The 
remarkable success of the industry has won for this district 
tbe name of " the Potteries." 
Wales. If now we turn from merry England to the little prin- 



The Island Home of the English. 



17 



cipality of Wales, we shall find a marked contrast. This is 
a rugged, mountainous country, picturesque and romantic 
enough, beloved of the tourist, but scantily endowed with 
industrial resources. These massive peaks, enveloped in 
mist and rain, afford meager opportunity for pasture or 
tillage. A circumscribed agricultural district lies along the 
north coast in the valleys of the Conway and the Clwyd, 
but the best industrial opportunity of Wales is in the slate 
quarries of the Cambrian range 
and the coal mines of the south. 
The coal fields of Wales are 
nearly equal in extent to those 
of England. That of the Black 
Mountains is 900 square miles 
in area and 10,000 feet in depth. 
This has become the center of 
the smelting industry. A dense 
population is gathered in a 
series of smoky towns, Swansea, Outline Map of Wales. 

Cardiff, Merthyr-Tydfil, and Ystradyfodwg. From Corn- 
wall, from France, from North and South America, from 
Australia, large quantities of metal are brought to the 
foundries of South Wales. But this prosperity is offset 
by the poverty of vast mountain wastes. Wales as a whole 
supports but a sparse population. Her area is one seventh 
that of England while her population is but one eighteenth 
as large. 

Scotland in physical make-up is quite comparable to 
Wales. It looks but a jagged mass of rock from which 
broken bits, the Sbetlands, the Orkneys, the Hebrides, 
Skye, Mull, Arran, are crumbling off into the sea. The 
country is naturally divided into three districts distin- 
guished from one another by marked physical features. 
First of these is the picturesque northern section, the 




Scotland. 



18 



The Groivth of the English Nation. 



Highlands, the land of shootings and salmon rivers. It 
contains two thirds of Scotland's territorj 7 , but very little 
of her material wealth. Fishing and sheep raising are the 
principal employments. The Lowland Plain is a long nar- 
row valley, which may once have been an isthmus, run- 
ning across the coun- 
try from east to west, 
from the Firth of 
Forth to the Firth of 
Clyde. This region 
contains the mineral 
wealth of Scotland. 
Here are rich deposits 
of coal and iron which 
sustain flourishing 
manufactures. Here, 
too, are Scotland's 
harbors and hence her 
commercial opportu- 
nity. The population 
of this favored region 
is more than half that 
of all Scotland. The 
third natural division 
is that of the Lowland 
Hills, Scotland's nat- 
ural barrier against in- 
vasion from England, 
Outline Map of Scotland. the "border" of the 

ballads and historical romance. These hills are mo- 
notonous moorlands. They lack the picturesque beauty 
of the Highlands and the mineral wealth of the Plain. 
They are good for little but sheep pasture. The 
Tweed valley is a more prosperous region ; verging on 




The Island Home of the English. 



19 



the coal districts of England, it shares their prosperity. 
Of the physical sources of national well-being, Ireland 
has but a niggardly portion. The island is shaped like 
a saucer. Along the coasts, north, west, and south, runs a 
series of low mountain ranges. In the east alone are there 
considerable stretches of sandy shore and even here the 
coast line is broken by two mountain masses, the Mourne 
and the Wicklow hills. The interior is an undulating 
plain with hardly suf- 
ficient slope to afford 
watershed to its slug- 
gish rivers. It has a 
limestone foundation 
and the soil is as fer- 
tile as that of England, 
but it is too wet for 
successful agriculture 
and is given over, in 
great part, to cattle 
pasture. Numerous 
lakes and tracts of bog 
land lie across the Outline Map of Ireland, 

heart of the country and reduce its tillable area. Ire- 
land gets the first effect of the warm winds from the 
Atlantic and the rainfall is excessive. The number of 
rainy days in a year averages 208. The climate is in con- 
sequence warm, damp, and debilitating. Moreover the 
mineral resources of the country are scant. The immense 
coal measures that originally covered its surface were carried 
away ages ago by glacial action. Isolated fragments of the 
once abundant store are found in the hills, but the output 
of the mines is quite inadequate to the industrial needs 
of the country. Ireland possesses rich deposits of iron, but 
they cannot be worked to advantage because fuel is lack- 



Ireland. 




Make-up of 
Ireland : 
75 per cent 
arable land. 
9 per cent bog 
and marsh. 
II per cent bar- 
ren mountain. 
4 per cent 
water. 
1 per cent 
woods. 



120 



The Groivth of the English Nation. 



Queenstown. 



Cf . density of 
population : 
Scotland, 132 
1o sq. m. 
Ireland, 144 to 
sq. m. 

Wales, 206 to 
sq. m. 

England, 540 to 
sq. m. 

Belgium, 540 
to sq. m. 
Saxony, 598 
to sq. m. 



ing. The mountains contain other minerals, copper, gold, 
silver, and lead, and these have been mined at different 
epochs in Irish history ; but the ores are nowhere so rich as 
those of the Pennine and Cornish districts and the mining 
industries are to-day actually declining. The fates seem to 
have conspired against Ireland. Her rivers rarely afford 
water power sufficient for manufactures. Her natural har- 
bors lie to the west and north where they are of little use. 
One first-rate harbor lies on the south coast and has become 
important since the steamship lines running from Liver- 
pool to America have made it a calling station. England 
stands between Ireland and the Continent. She can con- 
trol and has thus far stifled the commercial ventures of the 
weaker country. Deprived of commercial and industrial 
opportunities, the Irish people are restricted to agriculture. 
The population is distributed over the land in villages and 
scattered hamlets. There are but six towns of more tban 
20,000 inhabitants, Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Lon- 
donderry, and Waterford. These it will be noticed are all 
on the seacoast and owe their importance to some commer- 
cial advantage. In northern Ireland conditions are more 
favorable. The climate is bracing, the juxtaposition of two 
such harbors as Belfast and Glasgow is a spur to commerce, 
while ready access to the Scotch coal district renders tex- 
tile manufactures profitable. The poverty of Ireland may 
be partly accounted for by misgovernment and race weak- 
ness, but it is mainly due to the lack of material resources. 
Tbe comparative prosperity of the political divisions of 
Britain is clearly indicated by the movement of popula- 
tion. Scotland has always been sparsely settled. The 
population of Ireland is actually decreasing while that of 
England and Wales has rapidly increased since the opening 
up of their mineral resources. Saxony alone of European 
countries supports a denser population than England. 



CHAPTER II. 

Race Elements of the English Nation. 

Illustrative Readings. 449 A. D. Landing of the Jutes. 

597. Augustine's Mission. 
House of the Wolflngs ; Morris. g29- Union under Egbert- 

Ekkehard ; Scheffel. 8n _ 90h Reign of A]fred> 

Alfred the Great ; Hughes. g78> Treaty of Wedmore . 

Beowulf. 955> Union un< jer Edgar. 

1016. Conquest by Cnut. 
Important Dates. 1042 . Saxon Restoration. 

55 B. C. Invasion of the Romans. 1066. Death of Edward. 

THE BRITONS AND ROME. 

The most ancient descriptions of the island now known 
as Great Britain show that it must once have been very 
like northern Russia of to-day, a land of dense forest, 
barren moor, and desolate fen. The southern coast was 
lined with forests stretching with scarcely a break from 
Kent into Devon. Another great woodland bordered the 
Severn on both sides. The center of the island was cov- 
ered by forest arid thicket. From the Peak to the Tyne 
rolled almost unbroken woodland and moor, and beyond, 
impassable forests covered the lowlands between the Ger- 
man Ocean and the hills of Strathclyde. Around the 
Wash the great fens stretched inland as far as modern 
Cambridge, cutting off the coast from the interior. To the 
north and west were barren waste and rugged, inaccessible 
mountain wilds. 

We do not know by what race this desolate land was first 
inhabited. Traces have been found of a primitive people, 
cave dwellers, but they have passed away, leaving no clue 
as to their condition except here and there an etching on 
a rock, or the engraved tooth of a cave lion. At the 

21 



Inhabitants. 



22 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



The Celts. 



55 B. C. 



Race charac- 
teristics of 
the Britons. 



earliest time concerning which we have information the 
country was occupied by two distinct races, the Iberian 
and the Celt. The Iberians were few in number and were 
dark-haired and of small stature, a type still surviving 
perhaps in the swarthy Irish of the west. At one time 
they held the whole island, but they were driven into the 
remoter districts or absorbed by the successive waves of 
Celts that a little later swept over the country. 

The bulk of the population was composed of Celts of the 
Aryan group, a group which includes Teutons, Slavs, Greeks, 
and some of the ancient races of India and Persia. They 
were the first Aryans to enter Europe, and, driven onward 
by the Teutons who came later, are now found chiefly in 
the more remote parts of the Continent and the adjoining 
islands, as Brittany, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Those 
who crossed over from the mainland were of two branches, 
the Gaels, represented now by the Irish and the High- 
landers of Scotland, and the Britons who gave the island 
its name and who were the ancestors of the modern Welsh 
and Cornishmen. They all spoke the Celtic tongue, and it 
is still the common speech of Wales and the Scotch High- 
lands. 

Although the island was visited by men from southern 
Europe by the fourth century B. C, we nevertheless know 
almost nothing of its early history. Caesar relates in his 
Commentaries that, when he was planning his invasion of 
Britain, he found it impossible to gain any precise knowl- 
edge of the country'. " Having, therefore, called together the 
merchants from all parts of Gaul, they could neither inform 
him of the largeness of the island, nor what or how powerful 
were the nations that inhabited it, nor of their customs, or 
arts of war." Apparently at the beginning of our era the 
Britons had not passed beyond the tribal stage, and the basis 
of society was the clan or patriarchal family, those of the 



Race Elements of the English Nation. 



23 



same blood and having the sanie totem holding together and 
shutting out all others. The chief occupation of the tribes 
of the north was hunting, but they were great fishermen, 
although they apparently never ventured far out at sea. 
Cattle constituted their wealth, and with them they wan- 
dered from place to place, having no settled home. The 
Britons of the south were more highly civilized than those 
of the north. Agriculture was carried on with some skill, 
the tin mines of Cornwall and Devon were worked, and 
there was a limited commerce with the Continent. The 
remains of temples and monuments to the dead, such as 
Stonehenge in Salisbury Plain, prove that the principles of 
mechanics were understood. 

The religion of the Celts on both sides the Channel was 
the same. They worshiped many gods, and held sacred 
certain objects in na- 
ture, as the oak and 
mistletoe. Their priests, 
called Druids, took an 
influential part in the 
government. C a? s a r , 
writing of Gaul, says of 
them : " The Druids 
have charge of all matters of religion ; they conduct the 
public and private sacrifices and interpret the omens. 
They are held in great honor, and many young men come 
to them for instruction. They decide almost all contro- 
versies, public and private. ... If anyone does not 
submit to their decision he is made an outlaw. . . . 
The Druids do not go to war, nor pay tribute with the rest. 
. . . The leading tenet of the Druids is that the soul 
does not perish, but passes after death into the body of 
another person. Thus they incite men to valor by remov- 
ing the fear of death." In appearance the Celts were tall 




Druidical Ornaments. 



Totem, a rude 
picture, as of a 
bird, beast, or 
the like ; used 
as a symbolic 
name or desig- 
nation of a 
family. 



Religion. 



Roman 



24 The Groivth of the English Nation. 

and fair. Ptolemy, a Latin writer of the second century, 
describes them as " impatient of restraint, and fond of 
liberty ; warlike, laborious, fierce and imperious, ingenious 
and high-spirited." 

About the middle of the first century B. C, the Britons 
Conquest. came into contact with the power of Rome. Caesar 

having completed the conquest of Gaul, " resolved to pass 
over into Britain, as he had certain intelligence that in 
all his wars with the Gauls the enemies of the common- 
wealth had ever received assistance from thence." We 
have a description in Caesar's own words of his attempted 
landing. " He weighed anchor about one in the morning, 
and about ten o'clock reached the coast of Britain where 
he saw all the cliffs " (the white cliffs of Dover) " covered 
with the enemy's forces. The nature of the place was 
such that, the sea being bounded by steep mountains, the 
enemy might easily launch their javelins on us from 
above." Caesar's first attempt to overcome the Britons 
was a failure, but in the following year he came again. He 
met with a stubborn resistance ; in a critical moment, 
however, tribal jealousy broke the strength of the defense, 
and the Romans won a complete victory. Thereupon they 
withdrew, having gained their end of putting a check on 
British interference in Gaul, and for almost a century 
longer the island was left to itself. 

About a hundred years later Rome renewed the at- 
tack. Perhaps the Britons opened the way to this by 
ravaging the neighboring coasts of Gaul. In 43 A. D., a 
Roman army invaded the island, and by taking ad- 
vantage of the rivalries of different tribes soon conquered 
the southern half of the country, including the much 
coveted tin mines and the most fertile lands. Constant 
fighting, however, was necessary to secure these conquests. 
In 58 A. D. Suetonius Paulinus was made governor of 



Race Elements of the English Nation. 25 

Roman Britain. He at once led an attack on the island 
of Mona (Anglesey), the stronghold of the Druids and 
the center of the British resistance. Suetonius was com- 
pletely successful, but the force of his victory was almost 
lost through the misgovernment of his subordinates. Op- 
pressed and insulted, the Britons of the south rose against 
their conquerors and a terrible massacre of the Romans 
followed. More troops were sent from Gaul, stern ven- 
geance was taken upon the Britons, and at last Roman 
authority was restored. Agricola, who governed the island 
during the latter part of the century, pushed the Roman 
conquests far into the north. To secure what was already 
held, he felt it necessary to subdue the whole island. He 
failed in this but he conquered the country as far as the 
Sol way and the Tyne. To protect his conquests he built 
a line of forts between the Forth and the Clyde, and estab- 
lished a strong garrison at Eboracum (York). Early in the 
second century the Emperor Hadrian visited the island 
arid strengthened the defenses in the north by building 
a dyke or earth wall between the Sol way and the Tyne, and 
a few years later a wall of a similar character, known 
as the Wall of Antoninus, was constructed along the line 
of Agricola's forts. A final attempt to conquer the wild 
tribes of the north, the Picts and Scots, was made by 
Emperor Severus in the beginning of the fourth century. 
He failed, however, as those before him had done, and 
he was obliged to content himself with securing the lands 
south of the Tyne by erecting a wall of stone not far 
from Hadrian's earth dyke. Parts of these walls remain 
unto this day. 

Throughout the Roman period the Picts and Scots of the 

Britain under 
north remained unsubdued; south of the firths, however, the Romans. 

the island rapidly became a Roman province. The con- 
quered tribes learned to appreciate the benefits of the 



26 The Growth of the English Nation. 

rule of Rome as well as to fear her arms. Peace and 
good order were maintained. The Romans were great 
builders and engineers, and they soon covered Britain with 
a network of fine roads connecting the outlying posts, such 
as York or Chester, with London and the south coast. 
Along these roads all the traffic of the country was carried 
on for centuries, and a comparison of a map of England 
with a map of Roman Britain shows that even now 
many of the railways follow the line of the Roman roads. 
Towns and cities sprang into existence, often about some 
military station, as is shown by the frequent termination 
"Chester " (Latin castra, camp). Along the line of the high- 
ways the forests were cleared off and the marshes drained, 
and in the south much land was brought under culti- 
vation. Agriculture flourished and so much corn was pro- 
duced that Britain became known as the "Granary of the 
North." As a result of the closer connection, a brisk trade 
sprang up with the Continent. The Roman colonists who 
settled in the country introduced new modes of living. 
Nowhere within the empire are the remains of villas and 
town houses more numerous and more splendid. The 
southern coast was dotted with residences provided with 
every contrivance for diminishing the unaccustomed rigor 
of the climate, of which the colonists wrote that it was 
"rather rainy than snowy, and when it is fine there is a 
fog." Bath became a popular resort, and the ruins recently 
uncovered there testify to the luxury of the Roman col- 
onists. Latin was the official language and was spoken 
at least by those Britons who dwelt in the towns. Roman 
law, the most perfect legal system the world has seen, 
was the law of the land both for conqueror and conquered. 
Druidism was attacked by the Romans because of the de- 
termined hostility of the priests to the new rule, and its 
rites were no longer practiced — at least openly. Under the 



Race Elements of the English Nation. 27 

rule of Constantine iu the fourth century Britain became 
nominally Christian, and the natives to some extent ac- 
cepted the new religion. 

Nevertheless, as a whole, the civilization of Rome 
did not take a strong hold upon Britain. Even south of 
the Firth of Forth there must have been large tracts of 
country untouched by Roman influence, and outside of the 
towns the bulk of the population probably clung to the old 
customs, the old language, and the old faith. It is easy to 
understand why it was so. Remote from Rome, Britain 
was not readily brought under the influence of Latin civili- 
zation. Probably few from southern Europe came to the 
island. The climate was forbidding and commerce and 
trade offered but few attractions. To the last Britain must 
have remained a military colony, a kind of Roman Algeria, 
the Romans a mere handful among an alien, subject people. 
But the chief reason for the superficial character of the 
civilization of the Britons was the short duration of the 
Roman rule. Britain was the last of Rome's conquests 
in the west, and was the first to be given up. The efforts 
to secure Roman Britain against the Picts and Scots had 
been only in part successful. The walled towns, the large 
number of troops stationed in the island, show how the 
tribes of the north were dreaded. 

In the fourth century a new danger appeared in the 
band of pirates that ravaged the eastern coast. The shores 
of the Continent from the north of the peninsula of Jut- 
land to the mouth of the Ems were occupied by men of 
the Low German branch of the Teutonic race. Those 
living in Jutland were called Jutes ; in Schleswig and 
Holstein were the Angles ; about the mouth of the Elbe 
were the Saxons. All these took part in the conquest of 
Britain, and probably there were Jutes and Angles among 
the bands that laid waste the eastern coast at this time, 



28 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



though the records speak only of the Saxons. To meet this 
danger a line of forts was built stretching south from the 
Wash to Southampton Water, and a special officer, the 
Count of the Saxon shore, was appointed to take charge 
of the defenses of the coast. But resistance was vain. 
The raids of the Saxon pirates were but part of a great 
westward movement of the Teutons in the fourth century. 
For centuries Rome had waged an unequal contest with 
the barbarians ; now her foes closed in on her from all 
sides. The protection of Britain was impossible, and in 
410 the Emperor Honorius withdrew the Roman troops and 
bade the Britons sore-beset look to their own defense. 



The English 
Conquest. 



The coming of 
the Jutes. 



THE TEUTONIC INVASIONS. 

For the next forty years the Britons carried on single- 
handed a desperate struggle with the Picts and Scots on 
the north and the Saxon pirates on the east. In an appeal 
to Rome for aid they wrote : " The barbarians drive us to 
the sea ; the sea drives us back to the barbarians ; between 
them we are exposed to two sorts of death ; we are either 
slain or drowned." Contact with the Romans had not 
increased the power of the Britons to resist their foes. 
Tribal differences to be sure had disappeared, but the people 
had not become a nation. Moreover, they had lost the 
habit of self-government and of self-defense under the 
paternal rule of Rome. Yet they resisted long and 
stubbornly. Finally in 449 Vortigern, the ruler of the 
British, following the example of Rome, tried to play 
off one foe against another. He used with success the 
help of a band of Jutish pirates against the Picts, but he 
then found that he could not so easily get rid of his new 
allies. They established themselves in the Isle of Thanet 
and within a few years had overrun the whole of the 
adjoining mainland as far as Romney Marsh, in Kent. 



Race Elements of the English Nation. 29 

The Jutes were soon followed by other bands of sea The Saxons and 
rovers. Saxons from the Elbe landed to the west and An £ les 
starved out the strong fortress of Anderida. Still others 
north of the Thames forced their way inland until brought 
to a halt by the marshes of the Lea and the fortress 
of London. Another band of the same great people land- 
ing at Southampton pushed through the forest belt, but Welsh i „ d 
they were met and defeated by the Britons at Mt. Badon gJ^rthSrof U 
in 520. While the Saxon was thus conquering the south- ^jj^l® th - 
ern coast, men of another race, the Angles, coming like period, 
the Saxons in small, independent bands, were seizing the 
land along the eastern shore from Essex, the northern- 
most Saxon settlement, as far as the Roman wall, and by 
the early part of the sixth century the whole coast from 
the Tyne to Southampton Water was held by the Teuton 
invaders. As yet, however, their settlements were a mere 
fringe along the shore, and for almost fifty years longer 
they were held at bay by the desperate resistance of the 
Britons, aided by the Roman fortresses and the natural 
defenses of forest and fen. 

About the middle of the century there was an advance 
all along the line. Although the Anglians south of the 
Wash were still checked by the Great Fen, others making 
their way up the rivers settled along the Trent. These are 
known as Mercians, or men of the mark, for their settle- 
ment formed a kind of borderland between Britons and 
Teutons. The records are silent as to how it was done, 
but sometime before the close of the century the great 
northern province was conquered by other Angles who 
established the two strong kingdoms of Bernicia and 
Deira, together known as Northumberland. In the south, 
the Saxons pressed forward into the interior taking London 
and occupying the valleys of the Thames and the Severn. 
Finally, in 577 the Saxons of the west met the Britons at 



30 



The Groivth of the English Nation. 



Britain 

becomes 

England. 



The Heptarchy. 



Deorham and wou a victory which broke the backbone of 
British resistance. 

Step by step the invader had advanced and by the begin- 
ning of the seventh century the work of conquest was 
practically done. The Celts still held their own in the 
remoter parts of the island, in the north, in Strathclyde 
and Cumberland, in Wales and Cornwall, but the richest, 
the most fertile portion of Britain had become Teuton and 
pagan. For the conquest of Britain was unlike all other 
Teutonic conquests. Elsewhere the conquerors gradually 
adopted the language> the religion, the customs of the con- 
quered. But in Britain the invaders held to their old 
gods, and everywhere they settled the English language 
and the English customs prevailed. 

The reasons for the difference are not far to seek. On the 
Continent the Teutons came as a united host under one 
leader, here they came in small, independent bands. On 
the Continent the natives, weakened by Roman rule, made 
only a feeble stand, but in the end con- 
quered their conquerors through superior 
civilization. The half-civilized Celts of 
Britain, less completely Romanized and 
aided by their natural defenses, resisted 
long and stubbornly. The land was won 
from them only by dint of hard fighting 
and it took almost one hundred and fifty 
years to complete the conquest. As a re- 
sult of the long fierce struggle, a large 
part of the native population was exterminated, and all 
traces of Roman civilization being swept away, the land 
lay bare for the planting of a new nation with its own 
speech, its own customs, its own institutions. 

The contest between the Teuton and the Celt for posses- 
sion of Britain had come to an end ; only on the western 




Saxon "Warrior. 



\Aj7 Q 




Race Elements of the English Nation. 



31 



border did the war linger on for a time longer. Peace, how- 
ever, was not gained. Secure from the Britons, the in- 
vaders now turned their arms against one another, and the 
history of the next two centuries is filled with their strife. 
Of the many independent Teutonic settlements, seven 
have a fairly continuous history. Three of these, North- 
umberland, Mercia, and Wessex, having conquered their 
weaker neighbors, waged war for supremacy in England. 
Northumberland under Edwin was the first to rise to 
power, and early in the seventh century succeeded in con- 
quering all the rest of England except Kent, but it was too 
weak to maintain its hold. Mercia revolted and under 
Penda rose rapidly to the foremost place. But the fall of 
Mercia was as rapid as its rise ; it was too exposed, too 
divided internally to hope to unite England permanently 
under its rule. That it achieved what it did was due 
mainly to its great kings, Penda and Offa. 
In the eighth century Wessex contested the 
supremacy of the south with Mercia, while 
Northumberland stood somewhat aloof. For 
a time Mercia was successful and conquered 
Essex, Kent, and East Anglia, but early in 
the ninth century the tide changed, and by 
829 the West Saxons under Egbert were 
masters of the whole country. The king- 
doms of the south were directly under the 
rule of Wessex, while Mercia, East Anglia, 
and Northumberland retained their own 
kings ; but all alike owned the overlordship 
of Egbert, and for the moment there was a 
united England. In looking back over these years of in- 
ternecine war, it seems a period of much confusion, of 
apparently meaningless strife, well characterized by Milton 
as the "battle of kites and crows." The scanty records 




Anglo-Saxon 
Man-at-arms. 



32 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Customs and 
institutions. 



Tyr. 
Woden 
Thor. 
Freyja. 



show, however, that it was also a time of social and political 
growth, and that underneath all the turmoil and disorder 
the English nation was being formed. 

THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 

The bands of warriors that conquered Britain were but 
the forerunners of the migration of a people. Wives, chil- 
dren, slaves, cattle even, were brought across the water, 
and in their island home the Teutonic conquerors repro- 
duced the life they were wont to lead on the banks of the 
Elbe. They held to the old speech, the old faith, the old 
laws, the old customs and institutions, and Britain be- 
came England, the land of the Angles. 

The three tribes that took part in the conquest were 
much alike. They were heathen, worshiping many gods, 
some of whose names have come down to us in the days of 
the week. Their chief delight was in war, and they were 
equally at home on land and on sea. There were two 
classes among them, the earls or noblemen, and the simple 
freemen. Besides these were the people conquered in war 
and reduced to slavery, who did much of the work of till- 
ing the soil. After the conquest there was a great increase 
in the number of the unfree, both English and Britons. 
The leaders were called ealdormen and were marked out 
from the rest by their wealth or their greater wisdom or 
prowess. Around each earl gathered his war band. These 
comrades or gesiths, as they were called, were young men 
whose business in life was war. They lived with their 
chosen leader and followed him wherever he went, esteem- 
ing it their greatest glory to give their lives for him. They 
probably bore the brunt of the attack on Britain, and after 
the conquest we find a change in their position. They no 
longer lived in the house of their leader, but had lands of 
their own and were called "thegns." 



Race Elements of the English Nation. 33 

The life of the Teutons centered in the village. Here The viUage> 
families united by the tie of kinship lived together, and 
each "ham" or "tun" bore the name of the kin that 
dwelt in it. Thus the town of the Irvings was Irvington. 
Each village lay isolated by a border of waste or woodland 
called the mark, a name often applied to the village itself. 
Every freeman had his own house and strip of plowland, 
but the woodland and pasture-land surrounding the village 
were used in common. It is a still unsettled question 
whether the village lands were owned by the freemen 
or whether they belonged to some lord to 
whom the cultivators paid service in re- 
turn for the use of the land. Each village, 
whether dependent or free, had its town- 
moot. Here the freemen met together 
under a reeve or headman and settled the 
petty disputes of the neighborhood, just 
as do the peasants of the Russian village 
community to-day. Superior to the town- 
moot was the hundred-moot, the court Gesith. 
of a district settled originally perhaps by a hundred fam- 
ilies of the same kin. Here the reeve and four best men 
from each village within the hundred met together to dis- 
cuss questions arising between township and township, 
and to give judgment in cases of grave offense and crime. 

Among the Teutons as among other primitive peoples, j us ti C e. 

justice and order were at first associated with the idea of 

the family. Each kinsman was his kinsman's keeper, , , 

J In the tenth 

bound to avenge his wrongs, to suffer for his misdeeds, century a 

° ' king s blood- 

"Life for life" and "eye for eye" ran the hard code of money was 

J J about four 

the day. It was a great step in advance when compensa- times that of 

" an ealdorman, 

tion for wrong done might be made at a fixed price, and and more than 

jt / one h un cl re (i 

when the injured man no longer took vengeance into his times that of 

an ordinary 
own hand, but brought his complaint before his neighbors freeman. 




34 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



in town or hundred-moot. Yet there was nothing like 
the trial of to-day. If the accused denied the charge he 
was bound to summon twelve men of the neighborhood, 
compurgators, who would swear to the worth of his oath. 
When none would do this, he might appeal to the ordeal or 
judgment of the gods, and if he could stand the test of 
walking on hot plowshares or of plunging his arm into 
boiling water, he was held innocent of the charge against 
him. Probably but few stood the ordeal, and thus practi- 
cally judgment depended upon the good or bad repute of a 
man among his neighbors. 
The Tribe Twice a year the men of the tribe came together in a 

great folk-moot. Here justice was done between hundred 
and hundred, and important matters, such as peace and 
war, were discussed, and the leader of the host was chosen. 

One of the ealdormen presided 

over the moot, the wise men of 

the tribe spoke, and the freemen 

standing about shouted "Aye" 

or " Nay " to what w T as proposed, 

or shook their spears and clashed 

their shields by way of applause. 

They came prepared to fight as 

well as to take counsel. Each 

man had his place in the national 

force, and just as the folk-moot 

was the people in council so the 

host was the people in arms. 

Kingship among these people 

was perhaps a result of the con- 

saxon Archer. quegt> At least we find no earlier 

traces of it, and within a short time after their coming each 

settlement had its king. The long, fierce resistance of the 

Britons forced the invaders to unite under some chief to 




Race Elements of the English Nation. 



35 



whom all could look, and to make him something more 
than a temporary leader. The choice usually fell on the 
best man of the royal line, but he was still the freely 
elected leader, bound by the advice of his wise men and 
the customs of the people. 

The seventh century was marked by an event only less The conversion 
important than the conquest itself, the conversion of the to Christianity. 
English to Christianity. 
The defeat of the Britons 
by the Teutons meant the 
triumph of the faith of 
Woden over the faith of 
Christ. The Teutons were 
not intolerant, however, 
and when in 597 Roman 
missionaries landed in 
Thanet, they met with a 
patient hearing from Eth- 
elbert, the Kentish king, 
and he allowed no one to 
molest them, although he 
refused to accept the new 




St. Augustin, Archbishop of 
Canterbury. 



faith, saying, "Your words are fair, but they are of new 
and doubtful meaning." Within a few years, however, 
both king and people accepted the new religion. The royal 
city of Canterbury became the center of English Chris- 
tianity, and Augustine, leader of the missionary band, 
the first English archbishop. The time was favorable to 
the spread of the new teaching, for under Ethelbert, Kent 
had established a kind of over-lordship over the surround- 
ing tribes and they accepted the faith of their new rulers. 

The supremacy of Kent ended with the death of Ethel- 
bert, and many of the surrounding states in regaining their 
independence fell away from the new religion, but Chris- 



36 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Baeda's 

Ecclesiastical 

History. 



Paganism. 



tianity had already begun to make its way in the north 
through the marriage of a Kentish princess with Edwin 
the great Northumbrian king. Moved by the entreaties of 
his wife and the preaching of the chaplain Paulinus, Edwin 
promised to renounce the faith of Woden if he were suc- 
cessful in war. Returning home victorious, he called upon 
his people to accept Christianity. His wise men were 
nothing loath. "So runs the life of man," said one, "as 
a sparrow's flight through the hall when a man is sitting 
at meat in winter-tide with the warm fire lighted on the 
hearth but the chill rain-storm without. The sparrow flies 
in at one door and tarries for a moment in the light and 
heat of the hearth-fire, and then flying forth from the other 
vanishes into the wintry darkness from whence it came. 
So tarries for a moment the life of man in our sight, but 
what is before it, what after it, we know not. If this 
new teaching tell us aught certainly of these, let us follow 
it." In this spirit the Northumbrian leaders accepted the 
new faith, and the unthinking crowd followed their ex- 
ample with easy indifference ; the old gods had not served 
them well, the new could at least do no worse. 

But the victory was not yet won. Penda, king of 
Mercia, came forward as a defender of paganism. He 
rallied the people of the south around him in a contest 
which was as much for political freedom as for the ances- 
tral gods. For a quarter of a century the struggle raged. 
Kingdom after kingdom was torn from the grasp of North- 
umberland. For a time Penda stood supreme in England 
and the old gods were restored. But at last, in 655, the great 
king was defeated and slain by Oswiu, the Northumbrian 
ruler, at the river Winwaed near the present Leeds. With 
Penda ended the contest between Christianity and heathen- 
ism. The Mercians accepted the religion of the conquerors, 
Wessex quietly became Christian again, and finally the 



Race Elements of the English Nation. 37 

South Saxons, the last to yield, renounced the faith of 

Woden and Thor. 

One more danger was to be met. During the fierce „ , * 
° & Synod of 

struggle with Penda, Northumberland, cut off from Rome, Whitby, 
had come under the influence of the Irish Church. At the 
call of the king, missionaries from the famous monastery of 
Columba in Iona had come into the country to complete 
the work of Paulinus. Led by Aidan, who founded the 
monastery of Lindisfarne, they wandered forth among the 
hills and dales of Northumberland, winning the rough 
peasantry to the faith of Christ. For the moment it 
seemed as though the north would be won by the Irish 
Church and the separation from Rome would be perma- 
nent. Fortunately, in the great synod held at Whitby 
in 664, to decide the ecclesiastical allegiance of Northum- 
berland, the voice of Oswiu the king was in favor of Rome. 
The points of difference were slight, but had England held 
to the Irish Church she would have been spiritually 
isolated, cut off from all the civilization that centered at 
Rome. 

The century that followed was the golden age of the 
early English Church. Its wealth and influence grew Church, 
steadily. It was organized into bishoprics and parishes 
corresponding roughly with the subkingdoms and town- 
ships. Throughout the north and on the eastern coast rose 
stately abbeys and monasteries, the homes of learning as 
well as religion. Baeda, " the venerable Bede," greatest of 

& ' ' & Baeda, 673-735. 

early English scholars, and first of English historians, "Ecclesiastical 

was a monk of Jarrow on the Tyne, and it was at Whitby the English 

Nation." 
that Caedmon, the inspired cowherd, first learned the gift of 

song. While the monasteries became the centers of intel- 
lectual life, bishops took their place in the councils of the 
king, and parish priests moving among the people set the 
example of purer, gentler living. But it was not simply 



38 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Coming of the 
Northmen. 



through its direct teachings or through the closer connec- 
tion with the civilization of the Continent brought about 
by its influence, that the Church became a force in the 
growth of the English nation. It was the organization of 
the Church that furnished the model for organization of the 
State. A united Church under one head, the Archbishop of 
Canterbury, prepared men for a united State under one 
king. Ecclesiastical unity was the forerunner of national 
unity. 

ENGLAND AND THE DANES. 

The union of England under Egbert might have passed 
away as did that established by Penda had it not been for a 
common danger that bound together the warring states in 




Saxon Hawking. Ninth Century. 

the ninth century ; the completion of Egbert's work was 
the unwitting achievement of the Northmen. 

It is like reading the history of the Anglo-Saxon invasion 
over again to read of the coming of the Danes. They were 
Scandinavians and closely akin to the Angles and Saxons. 
Their faith was the faith of Woden, the sea was their 
home, and their delight was in war and plunder. Sweep- 
ing down from the north they ravaged the eastern coast 
of England, sacking the towns and plundering the rich 
monasteries of the fen country. Their object at first was 
booty, but by the middle of the ninth century the character 
of the attack changed, they came no longer simply to 
plunder but to conquer and settle. Within a few years the 



Race Elements of the English Nation. 39 

work of Egbert was undone, only the lands south of the 
Thames remained subject to the Saxon king, and in 871 the 
turn of the West Saxons came. The task of saving Wessex, 
and with it England and the national faith, fell upon 
Alfred, the young king. For seven years he waged a des- 
perate struggle against the Danes. In 878 all seemed lost. 
Wessex was overrun, and Alfred with a few followers took 
refuge in the Isle of Athelney among the marshes of the 
Parret. But with the spring he came forth, and calling 
out the men of Somerset and Wilts, he won a complete 
victory over the Danes at Ethandun, and wrung from 
them the Treaty of Wedmore. By this they bound them- 
selves to resign to Alfred the lands south of Watling Street. 
The north and east they kept, and it was henceforth 
known as the Danelaw, or land of the Danish law. 

For the moment it seemed as though all hope of a united Alfred 
England was gone, for Alfred had lost more than half the 8 7*-9<m. 
territory held by his grandfather Egbert. But within 
what was left, his rule was far more real and substantial. 
He at once turned his attention to the upbuilding of his 
realm. He strengthened the defenses by creating a fleet, 




Swine Hunting. Ninth Century. 

the first English navy, and by reorganizing the fyrd, one Fyrd the 
half the men of each shire to be always ready for war. nffaTevied 1 " 
With the aid of his wise men the laws were codified and by snires - 
amended, and the courts of justice were revived. His ef- 



40 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Conquest of the 
Danelaw. 




forts for the well-being of his realm did not end here. The 
long wars had resulted in the moral and intellectual degra- 
dation of the people, the Church was demoralized, learn- 
ing had disappeared. "When I began to 
reign," said Alfred, " I cannot remember one 
priest south of the Thames who could render 
his service-book into English." To remedy 
these evils he rebuilt and founded churches and 
schools, and brought priests and teachers from 
the Continent. To meet the need of books 
in the English language, he himself trans- 
lated and explained the works of Orosius, 
on Youth. Boethius, and Baeda. It is to his desire that 
his subjects should know their own past that we owe 
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the earliest history possessed 
by any Teutonic people in its own tongue. Everywhere he 
strove with untiring zeal and true wisdom to further the 
national welfare. "A hero of romance, 
but to whose character romance has done 
no more than justice," excelling as war- 
rior, as ruler, as scholar, Alfred stands 
out as perhaps the most perfect character 
in history. 

Alfred's task was to reorganize and con- 
solidate the lands south of Watling Street. 
To extend the rule of Wessex into the 
north, where the Danes had established 
several independent states, was the work 
of his son and grandsons. Step by step 
they reconquered the country, bringing 
Mercia and Northumbria under their Kin £ Edgar- 
direct rule, reducing the Celts of Wales and Strathclyde 
to submission, and obliging the Scots to render them some 
kind of allegiance. When Edgar ascended the throne in 




Race Elements of the English Nation. 41 

959, he had only to hold what those before hirn had won 
by dint of hard fighting, and he spent his peaceful reign in 
organizing his kingdom and reforming the Church. He 
had an able coadjutor in Dunstan, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, the first of England's long line of ecclesiastical states- 
men. 

The work of reconquest was done ; the Dane had accepted England in the 
rule of the Saxon, and the fusion of races already begun tenth centur y- 
was soon complete. But the effect of the fierce struggle 
was plain in state and society long after the two peoples 
had become one. The old 
provincial jealousies had 
disappeared before the 
Dane. Common danger 
welded the people to- 
gether, common interest 
replaced the union of the 

sword. The new union st - Dunstan. 

was symbolized in the king. The strengthening of his 
authority was a natural result of the war. To him men 
had looked in their need, their safety was his merit. His 
thegns leading their dependents to battle had borne the 
brunt of the fight far more than the unwieldy national 
force. With enlarged domains his power grew. From afar 
men looked with increased awe on the Lord's Anointed, 
the ruler of kings. But the power of the king was still 
personal, still dependent upon himself. If the king was 
strong, the crown was strong, but if he was weak, the old 
provincial jealousies strengthened by new tendencies toward 
separation at once showed themselves. 

The long strife had left its mark on the churl as well 
as on the king. To protect himself against the Dane he be- 
came the dependent of some lord who gave him aid. He 
followed his lord to battle, tilled his fields, and sought 




42 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Witenayemot — 
meeting of 
wise men ; an 
assembly com- 
posed of the 
bishops and 
greater thegns. 




justice in his courts. He ceased to be free, but yet he was 
not a slave. He could not leave the land, but on the other 
hand he could not be sold from the land, nor could it be 
taken from him. He had also lost whatever political in- 
fluence he may have had, for the folk- 
moot had either disappeared altogether, 
or had become a mere local court, the 
shire-moot. 

This same drift toward dependence, 
toward feudal subordination, showed it- 
self throughout society. Just as the 
freeman bound himself to his lord, so his 
lord in turn attached himself to some 
greater thegn, or to one of the ealdor- 
men who ruled the subject kingdoms. 
Here lay the great danger to the new 
union. These ealdormen were like petty 
kings in their own districts. Athelstan 
of East Anglia was so powerful that he 
was called the Half-King. They re- 
sented royal interference, and under a 
weak ruler each went his way, looking 
rather to his own interest than to the 
interest of the whole people. They formed 
also the strongest element in the Wit- 
enagemot which had replaced the folk- 
moots of the subkingdoms, and which 
now elected the king and made the laws 
and granted land. Unless the king was 
a strong man he was a mere tool in 
their hands. This struggle between the 
English king and his ealdormen was but 
a part of the great contest of the century between mon- 
archy and feudalism. In France and on the Continent 



Anglo-Saxon Glee- 
man. Tenth 
Century. 




A Princess of East 
Anglia. 




Race Elements of the English Nation. 43 

generally, feudalism had triumphed ; it was only in Eng- 
land that the crown still held its own. But however the 
issue might turn, the basis of English society was changed, 
the bulk of the population consisted no longer of freemen 
owning the land, holding their own courts, forming the 
backbone of the national forces, but of serfs bound to the 
soil, tilling the land of another, and doing his will. 

The tenth century was for England a brief breathing Danish Con- 
space between the first and second com- j£*| quest. 
ing of tbe Danes. "While the descendants 
of Alfred were gradually bringing under 
their rule the lands north of Watling 
Street, the Northmen were spending 
their energies in making conquests on 

the Continent. Toward the close of the 

... , . ,, , Anglo-Saxon Har- 

century they appeared again on the coast per and Hop- 

of England, coming not in small maraud- Tenth Centurv. 

J Led by Swegen 
ing bands, but as a national host prepared to conquer and of Denmark. 

to hold. 

The throne of England was occupied at this time by Etheired n. 
Edgar's son Etheired, the only one of the West-Saxon line 979 " 1016 - 
lacking in every kingly quality. "Redeless" his genera- 
tion called him because of his unwillingness to take 
" rede," or counsel. Not content with his father's position 
he purposed to make his rule real and direct over all 
England, but he showed neither force nor judgment in his 
attempts to carry out his policy. The years of Ethelred's 
reign were shameful and miserable. On every side was 
incapacity, treachery. The king feared his subjects more 
than the Danes, the ealdormen thought only of their own 
interests, leader of the people there was none. "And forces 
were often gathered against the Danes, but as soon as they chronicled 
should have joined battle, then was there ever through 
some cause flight begun." " And when they went to their 



44 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Cnut, 1016-1035. 



ships, then ought the fyrd to have gone out against them 
until they should land ; but then the fyrd went home ; and 
when they went eastward, then was the fyrd kept west- 
ward. Then all the Witan were bidden to the king that 
they might counsel how this land should be guarded. 
But though they counseled something, it did not stand 
even one month. And next, there was no man that would 
gather the fyrd, but each fled as he best might ; and next, 
no shire would even help another." 

That Englishmen could still fight when well led was 
proved, however, by the success of Edmund Ironsides who 
succeeded his father Ethelred in 
1016. In seven months he fought 
six battles and in four the Danes 
were defeated ; but death cut short 
his career, leaving Cnut, the young 
Danish king, without a rival. The 
English quietly accepted him as 
ruler, and once upon the throne he 
spared no effort to efface the mem- 
ory of the way in which he had 
gained it. He strove to rule as an 
English king, putting Englishmen 
in high office and reestablishing the 
law of Edgar. He sent home his 
Danish army retaining simply his 
house-carls, a small standing force, 
but he disarmed the ealdormen by 
placing over the four larger king- 
doms men whom he could trust. 
The greatest of these earls, as they were called, was an 
Englishman, Godwin of Wessex, henceforth the chosen 
minister of the king. Cnut gave to England peace 
and good order, but there was nothing permanent in 




Anglo-Saxon Men-at- 
arms. 



Race Elements of the English Nation. 



45 



his work and with his death his empire fell to pieces. 
For some years his sons reigned in England, but their 
rule was one of bloodshed and violence, and when in 
1042 the Danish line came to an unworthy end men turned 
with longing to the son of Ethelred living in exile 
at the Norman court, and "all folk chose Edward to 
king." But it was as a Norman rather than as an English- 
man that Edward came back, and under him far more 



Edward the 

Confessor. 

1042-1066. 




Cnut and his Queen. 



than during Cnut's reign did England learn the meaning 
of foreign rule. His piety and gentleness won for him the 
name of "Confessor," and in after years men recalled 
with longing the "good laws of Edward"; but he was 
more monk than king, and the real rulers of England 
during this reign were Godwin of Wessex and his greater 
son Harold. It was a time of division and discord, local 
jealousies broke forth again, the great earls strove with 



46 The Growth of the English Nation. 

each other, the two parties, national and foreign, which 
divided the court appeared also in the Church. So long as 
Edward lived outward peace was maintained, but his 
death gave the signal for a struggle over the succession 
which laid bare all the elements of weakness in the nation. 




Seal of Edward the Confessor. 



CHAPTER III. 

Norman England. 

Illustrative Readings. Important Dates. 

_. „ . ^ T . Reign of William I., 1066-1087. 

The Normans in Europe ; John- , ... _, . ' . . 

r ' 10/0, Conquest complete. 

mi. t -*.i t-> . -.r 1085> Domesday Survey. 

The Little Duke; Yonge. . '„ .. , „ .. * 

TT . ., T ' ,* _ 1086, Salisbury Oath. 

Hereward, the Last of the Eng- _ . .-nr-n- n <■ .„„ „„„ 

.. * Reign of William Rufus, 1087-1100. 

■cr ,L m g y ' 1096-1100, Normandy held in 

Harold; Tennyson. * 

Harold, the Last of the Saxon „ , P e . |l e * . „__„_- 

Reign of Henry 1., 1100-1135. 



Kings; Bulwer. 
The White Ship ; Rossetti. 



1106, Conquest of Normandy. 
Reign of Stephen, 1135-1154. 
1153, Treaty of Wallingford. 



The Norman Line. 

Rollo, the Ganger, 912-927 (?). 

William Longsword, (927(?)-943. 

Richard I., the Fearless, 943-996 . 

Richard II., the Good, 996-1026. Emma m. Ethelred, the Unready. 

Richard III., 1026-1028. Robert, 1028-1035. * Edward the Confessor. 

♦William I., 1035-1087. 
King of England, 1 086-1087. 

Robert, 1087-1106. * William II. * Henry I. Adela m. Stephen of Blois. 
Duke of Normandy. 1087-1100. 1100-1135. | 

| * Stephen, 1135-1154. 

Matilda m. Geoffrey Plantagenet, 

| Count of Anjou. 
♦H enry II., 1154-1189. 

•Richard, 1189-1199. *John, 1199-1216. 
♦The English kings are starred. 

THE CONQUEST. 

As in England, so on the Continent, the fierce persist- 
ence of the Norse invaders finally prevailed against the 
more civilized and peace-loving nations with whom they 
strove, and they secured a firm footing in France, in Sicily, 
and in Russia. In 912, Charles the Simple, the degenerate 

47 



48 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



The Normans 
in Normandy. 



descendant of Charlemagne and King of the West Franks, 
granted to Hollo the Ganger the province lying along the 
coast on either side the Seine, called from its new masters, 
Normandy. Rollo thus became a vassal of the Frankish 
king, but in those turbulent times it was not easy to assert 
the rights of overlordship, and the Norman dukes gave 
little heed to their nominal sovereign. The land was ap- 
portioned to their followers as booty of war, while the 
natives, being regarded as a conquered race, were reduced 
to serfdom. The Norse vikings despised these Romanized 
and degenerate Franks. Absorbed in hunting and feast- 
ing, in making war upon a neighboring lord to extend a 
boundary, or upon the duke to resist a claim, they con- 
temptuously declined to concern themselves with such 
slave's business as agriculture and the arts. Yet gradually 
the superior civilization gained influence among them. 
They married Frankish women ; they began to speak the 

Franco-Latin lan- 




guage, which, rude 
as it was, ran 
smoother than 
their wild mother 



Tapestry, illustrating the Norman fashion 
of shaving the back of the head. 



William I. and two Normans. From the Bayeux & > v 

tered the awe-in- 
spiring Christian 
churches and forgot the fierce gods of their ancestors ; they 
came under the sway of the clergy and received at their 
hands not merely a purer religion, a higher morality, but 
the conceptions of right and order preserved in the Roman 
law, the traditions of learning and civilization treasured in 
the monasteries. So it came about that within the 150 
years from Rollo the Ganger to William the Norman the 
rude Norse pirates had become essentially Frenchmen. 
Losing nothing of their old-time fire and vigor, they had 



Norman England. 49 



yet adopted the best elements in the civilization of the 
conquered race. In the tenth century, the Normans were 
barbarians ; in the eleventh, they were the most progressive 
people in Europe. 

During this same 150 years, the English, as we have seen, contemporary 
were retrograding. William of Malmesbury, an eleventh The^ngio- 
century chronicler of mingled English and Norman blood, i C ^e.° n r ° n " 
compares the character of the Normans with that of the Worcester. 
English to the great disadvantage of the latter. He asserts MalnfeTbury. 
that the " desire after literature and religion had decayed ah quotations 
in England," that the English clergy, " contented with a not h otherwise 
very slight degree of learning, could hardly stammer out taken^fromthe 
the words of the sacraments ; and a person who under- chronicle? 011 
stood grammar was an object of wonder and astonish- 
ment." The nobility were given up to luxury and de- 
bauch. Gluttony and drunkenness were national vices. 
The common people, unprotected by the degenerate kings, 
" became a prey to the most powerful, who amassed for- 
tunes by either seizing on their property or by selling their 
persons into foreign countries." Yet the wealth so won 
was spent in wasteful revel. " They consumed their whole 
substance in mean and despicable houses ; unlike the Nor- 
mans and French who in noble and splendid mansions 
lived with frugality." "The Normans," says our chron- 
icler, "are proudly appareled, delicate in their food, but 
not excessive. They are a race inured to war, and can 
hardly live without it ; fierce in rushing against the 
enemy ; and, where strength fails of success, ready to use 
strategem or to corrupt by bribery." 

A worthy descendant of Rollo was William the Bastard, 
son of Duke Robert and the pretty daughter of a tanner of 
Falaise. Flouted by his vassals, William had much diffi- 
culty in making good his claim to his father's duchy, since 
the restless Norman barons seized the opportunity to assert 



50 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



their independence, but the young duke soon proved 
himself equal to the situation. He not only reduced his 
turbulent subjects to submission, but he added to his 
domains the county of Maine. The vigor and wisdom 
thus manifested won for him the title of "the Great." 
w , . However, Normandy and Maine together formed but a 

to the English narrow realm. With the genius for conquest strong within 
him, William turned his eyes to England. On the death 
of Edward the Confessor, the Witan had passed by Edgar 
the Atheling and elected Harold king. The son of God- 
win was hardly crowned when William protested the 
validity of the sacred rite and announced himself as the 
true successor. The Norman duke brought forward a 
triple claim to the English crown. Edward had promised 
to make William his heir ; Harold, wrecked on the Nor- 
man coast and delivered into the hands of his rival, had 
sworn on sacred relics to surrender 
his rights to the throne ; finally the 
pope, offended by English disregard 
of ecclesiastical law and persuaded 
that William was a faithful son of 
the Church, had sanctioned his 
succession and sent a consecrated 
banner to further the invasion of 
England. Yet William's right, as 
justified by the event, was not Ed- 
ward's promise, nor Harold's oath, 
nor yet the papal blessing, but the 
ability to govern with a strong hand 
this kingdom torn by civil dissension. Harold was brave 
and patriotic, but he could never have welded the warring 
earldoms into national unity. As earl of Wessex, he was 
but first of the four great ealdormen. His fellow earls 
were jealous of his ascendancy and his own brother Tostig 




Harold II. From the 
Bayeux Tapestry. 



6 2 

ENGLAND 

AND THE 

^NCH POSSESSIC 
of WILLIAM: |l. 
1087 

ssions of William I. 




Norman England. 



51 



was in open rebellion. The Battle of Hastings gave the 
destinies of England into the hands of William. In the 
wild rout of Senlac Hill, Harold was slain and his forces 
scattered. 

Not yet, however, was the kingdom won. The Witan 
met at London and elected Edgar Atheling king. Ignor- 
ing this action, William inarched through Kent and Sus- 
sex, ravaging the lands of those who opposed him, up to 
the very gates of London. He hesitated to lay siege to the 
city for he wished to present himself not as a conqueror, 
but as rightful successor to the crown. 
His forbearance was soon justified. The 
citizens of London, seeing that the great 
northern earls made no movement in 
their behalf, opened their gates to Har- 
old's triumphant rival, and went through 
the form of electing him king. William 
was crowned on Christmas day, 1066, in 
the beautiful abbey built by the Confessor 
at Westminster. He took oath to ' 'govern 
the English people as well as any king 
before him had best done, if they would 
be faithful to him." The Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle, usually so dry and barren of 
personal details, waxes ardent in the 

description of William the Conqueror. 

. ^ William I. From the 

This King William was a very wise man Bayeux Tapestry. 

and very powerful, more dignified and strong than any 

of his predecessors. He was mild to the good men who 

loved God and over all measure severe to the men who 

gainsayed his will So also was, he a very 

rigid and cruel man so that no one durst do anything 

against his will. He had earls in his bonds who had acted 

against his will ; bishops he cast from their bishoprics, and 




Battle of 
Hastings, 1066. 



The Conquest. 



52 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



The New Forest 
near Winches- 
ter. The dis- 
trict was 
cleared of its 
inhabitants, 
whole villages 
being laid 
waste to make 
place for the 
deer. 



abbots from tbeir abbacies, and thanes into prison. . . . 
Among other things is not to be forgotten the good peace 
that he made in this land ; so that a man who had any 
confidence in himself might go through the realm, with his 
bosom full of gold, unhurt. . . . Certainly in his time 
men had great hardship and very many injuries. Castles 
he caused to be made and poor men to be greatly oppressed. 
He had fallen into covetousness and altogether loved 
greediness. He planted a great preserve for deer, and he 
laid down laws therewith, that whosoever should slay hart 
or hind should be blinded. He forbade the harts and also 
the boars to be killed. As greatly did he love the tall deer 
as if he were their father. He also ordained concerning the 
hares that they should go free. His great men bewailed it 
and the poor men murmured thereat ; but he was so ob- 
durate that he recked not of the hatred of them all, but 
they must wholly follow the king's will if they would 
live or have land or property or even 
his peace." Such was the man who 
had won the crown of England — stern 
and masterful, indifferent to the suf- 
fering wrought in the execution of his 
purpose ; but an able administrator, 
bent on so governing his realm that 
none but the king could oppress the 
people. 

When William was crowned at West- 
minster only the southeastern counties 
acknowledged his right to reign. The 
west and north held out for Edgar. 
A Saxon Warrior. The su bj U gation of the rebellious dis- 
tricts occupied the years from 1067 to 1070. Mercia and 
Northumbria were reduced to submission, and the un- 
happy Edgar took refuge in Scotland, where his sister 




Norman England. 53 



Margaret was queen. The king handled with merciless 
severity the miserable lesser folk who had but blindly fol- 
lowed the lead of their Saxon lords. Determined to render 
another rising impossible, William gave orders that the 
land should be laid waste. Cities and villages were re- 
duced to ashes and the crops destroyed. The helpless in- 
habitants were slaughtered or left to die of starvation. 
" He made a desert and called it peace." 

The fame of Norman cruelty and Norman prowess pre- 
ceded the king even to the frontiers of his terrified king- 
dom. Chester and the Welsh border submitted without 
resistance, and Malcolm, king of Scotland, acknowledged 
William as his overlord. The last stronghold of the Eng- 
lish resistance was the Isle of Ely, lying inaccessible in the 
heart of the Fens. Here the Saxon malcontents rallied 
under the leadership of Hereward the Wake, who defended 
his island fortress with desperate but unavailing courage. > 

THE FOREIGN KINGS. 

The people so conquered must now be held in subjection. 
In the task of governing his newly acquired kingdom, the 1066-108". 
Norman duke proved himself preeminent in statecraft 
as he had hitherto been in war. He was most desirous of 
ruling as an English king, but the chaotic condition of the 
country necessitated a method of government hardly 
to be distinguished from a military occupation. The 
estates of the rebellious Saxon thanes were confiscated and 
made over to his Norman followers, whose interests were 
identified with the interest of the king, and who could be 
relied upon to crush any incipient revolt on the part of the 
English. William further guaranteed his authority against 
Saxon and Norman alike by building in all the principal 
towns castles which he garrisoned with his own men. 
Many of these are still standing, notably the strong Tower 
of London. 



54 The Growth of the English Nation. 



The Conqueror meant that the royal authority should be 
supreme through the length and breadth of the land. 
England had known no such kingship, not even in the 
days of Edgar. The great thanes, assembled in the Witan, 
had been accustomed to make laws for the nation, having 
power to elect and even to depose the king, but William 
and his successors rejected the Anglo-Saxon conception of 
monarchy. In their interpretation the king was not the 
elected leader and representative of his people, but lord of 
the land and master of its inhabitants. Succession to the 
throne was henceforth by inheritance as to a private 
estate. 

With such conceptions of the royal office, the form of 
election must soon lapse. William could not allow to any 
subject such power as had been wielded by Godwin and 
Harold. He therefore abolished the great earldoms. To 
a favored few were granted large estates, but these were 
Apportionment scattered piecemeal in different parts of the country so 
kiDg n heid 1422 that tbere shoul d be no concentration of power. The king 
^Moretame! reserved to himself the lion's share of the confiscated 
Bre ; tSr442; territor i es > and never relinquished his prerogative as origi- 
Baye°u P x , 439; nal P ro P ri etor. In granting lands to his vassals William 
ftanc°e P 28 f o Co ' n " made the most of his opportunity to impose more stringent 
ftorsh£l $u, condit i° ns than had been customary in England or even in 
ma^ors'in ' N °rmandy. Every vassal must pay an annual rent, not 
England. however, in money, but in military service. The specific 

terms of his tenure depended upon his rank and the extent 
hefd orf terms of nis fief - If the tenant failed in his duty, the grant 
tenure* might be recalled. In this way every great lord was 

bound to send his contingent to the king's army. The 
feudal relation— by which we are to understand the recip- 
rocal obligations of lord and vassal, the lord granting land 
and protection, the vassal giving a stipulated service— pre- 
vailed throughout the Middle Ages both in England and on 



Feudalism. 



Norman England. 55 



the Continent. It was the characteristic social tie not 
only between sovereign and tenant-in-chief, but between 
the king's vassals and their subtenants, between the sub- 
tenants and their dependents. King William did not 
introduce feudalism into England (we have seen that the 
relation already existed between the landowners and the 
cultivators of the soil, between the king and his thanes), 
but he put upon it a new interpretation. Feudalism be- 
came, under his vigorous administration, a political system 
that brought the wealth and fighting force of every land- 
owner in the country under the king's control. He obliged 
" all the landowners that were of account over all Eng- 
land " to take the oath of personal fealty to him. Every 
man knelt before him and placing his hands between those . 

of the king swore "to be faithful to the king before all ?Q 8 r 7 0atl1, 
other men." So did the astute Norman check the ten- 
dency to disintegration that was the bane of continental 
feudalism. While the Salisbury oath was observed, no 
powerful vassal could gather his dependents to make war 
against his sovereign. All tenants-in-chief were sum- 
moned to meet the king in a great council three times a 

year, at Christmas, at Easter, and at Whitsuntide. This The Great 
J ' ' ' Council, 

was apparently a continuation of the Witenagemot and 

indeed the old name was for some time retained. It was, 

however, no longer a meeting of wise men, the counselors 

of the king, but of principal landowners who came in feudal 

array not to advise their sovereign but to render homage. Curia Regis, 

standing com- 

Upon this change of function followed a loss of power, mitteeofthe 

great council 

The administration of government was in the hands of the made up of 

the king's 

king's officers and the powers of the Witenagemot were ministers. 

absorbed by the Curia Regis. 

In order that he might be fully informed as to the value 

The Domesday 
of his new domain, the king had a rent-roll compiled Survey. 

— the so-called Domesday Survey. This concern for accu- 



56 The Growth of the English Nation. 

rate knowledge of his realm is a mark of the highest 
statesmanship ; the Survey was at one and the same time 
a census, a land register, and a basis of taxation, and re- 
mains of the highest value to historians; but the inquiry 
was deeply resented by the contemporary chronicler. 
"After this the king had a great council and very deep 
speech with his Witan about this land, how it was peo- 
pled, or by what men ; then sent he his men over all Eng- 
land into every shire, and caused to be ascertained how 
many hundred hides were in the shire, or what land the 
king himself had, and cattle within the land, or what dues 
he ought to have, every twelve months from the shire. 
Also he caused to be written how much land his arch- 
bishops had, and his suffragan bishops and his abbots and 
his earls ; and — tho' I may narrate somewhat prolixly 
— what or how much each man had who was a holder of 
land in England, in land or in cattle, and how much 
money it might be worth. So very narrowly he caused it 
to be traced out, that there was not one single hide, nor 
one yard of land, nor even — it is a shame to tell, tho' 
it seemed to him no shame to do — an ox, nor a cow, nor a 
swine was left that was not set down in his writ." 

In the Salisbury oath and the Domesday Survey, the 
Conqueror's work in England reached its climax. He had 
succeeded, for the time being, in bringing men of all ranks 
and races to acknowledge the duty of primary allegiance to 
the king. The next year he was engaged in war with his 
own overlord, Philip of France. At the siege of Mantes, 
he received an injury from which he soon after died # 
"Alas!" says the pious chronicler, "how false, how un- 
stable, is the good of this world. He who had been a power- 
ful king and the lord of many territories, possessed not 
then, of all his lands, more than seven feet of ground." 

In accordance with the Conqueror's will, his eldest son 



Norman England. 



57 



Robert succeeded him in Normandy, William, the second 
son, became king of England, while to Henry Beauclerc, 
the scholar of the family, was left a sum of £5,000 and some 
private estates. 

William II. had inherited the worst traits of his father wniiam Rufus. 
with none of the good. His greed was restrained by no 
sense of justice, his im- 
petuous will was guided 
by no statesmanlike 
fore-sight. He regarded 
his kingship only as an 
opportunity for indulg- 
ing to the full his fierce 
and unbridled passions. 
Ranulf, the justiciar, 
was his able accomplice. 
This man, nicknamed 
Flambard, "the fire- 
brand," had won the 

favor of his royal patron by his ingenuity in devising new justiciar, 

vice-gerent 
pretexts for wringing money from the reluctant purses of or prime 

.... minister. 

the vassals. In accordance with the continental version 

of the relations between lord and vassal, the king had 
control of the estates of a minor and might pocket the in- 
come. On coming of age the heir must pay a large sum 
of money (relief) for the privilege of entering upon his 
inheritance. If the heir were a woman, the king could 
marry her to whomsoever he would. Choice of a husband 
was only conceded to the woman or her relatives on pay- 
ment of a heavy fine. If there were no heirs or in case a 
vassal were convicted of felony, the estate lapsed (escheated) 
to the crown. Certain extraordinary " aids " might be de- 
manded on the marriage of the king's eldest daughter or the 
knighting of his eldest son or, in case he was taken captive, 




William Rufus. 



Feudal 
exactions. 



58 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Revolt of 
the Barons. 



for his ransom. All these services may be justified as medi- 
eval forms of rent, and they were in turn required by the 
king's vassals of their subtenants. Under a just adminis- 
tration tbey were not exorbitant, but the Red King and 
Ranulf, ignoring all right and precedent, set no bounds to 
their merciless greed. Of the second William, the Chronicle 
says: " He was very rigorous and stern over his land and 
his men and towards all his neighbors, and very formidable; 
and thro' the counsels of evil men, that were always grate- 
ful to him, and through his 
own covetousness, he was ever 
tormenting this nation with 
an army and with unjust ex- 
actions ; because in his days 
every right fell and every 
wrong in the sight of God and 
of the world rose up." These 
exactions were felt most 
heavily, of course, by the 
Norman barons, and were 
promptly resented. Under 
the lead of Odo, Bishop of 
Bayeux, they revolted and de- 
clared for Robert, Duke of 
Normandy, the elder brother. 
The king in his extremity turned to his English subjects. 
" He then sent after Englishmen and told to them his need 
and desired their support and promised them the best laws 
that ever were before in this land, and every unjust im- 
post he forbade and granted to men their woods and liberty 
of the chase; but," adds the chronicler dejectedly, "it 
stood no while." The revolt once suppressed, the king re- 
newed his cruel practices. 
In 1100 William Rufus was killed while hunting in the 




Female Costume of the reign of 
Rufus and Henry I. 



Norman England. 59 



New Forest and Henry was chosen king. This wise Henry i. 

prince had shown himself an able ruler in his little Nor- 35- 

man province, and his accession brought a much needed 

peace to England. The king desired, first of all, to be on 

good terms with his English subjects. With this in view 

he married Edgyth, the niece of Edgar tbe Atheling, "of 

the right royal race of England." Her name, which was 

impossible to a French tongue, was changed to Matilda. 

The Norman courtiers gave to the Saxon princess but a 

grudging welcome ; they mocked the popular sympathies of 

the king and queen by giving them the homely English 

names, Goodrich and Godiva. But King Henry recked 

nothing of their merriment. He had "promised God and „,, 

° r The charter 

all the people to put down all the injustices that were in his granted at his 

x J accession was 

brother's time, and to maintain the best laws that stood in the model for 

all subsequent 

any king's day before him." The Red King's justiciar guarantees of 

J to J & J goodgovern- 

Ranulf was thrown into the Tower of London and such ment. 

officers were appointed as would rightly administer the gov- 
ernment. The king's agents made regular circuits through 
the shires executing justice and collecting the royal reve- 
nues. Law and order were so far maintained that King 
Henry was called the Lion of Justice. Yet the imposts 
levied in the name of the king fell heavily upon the people, 
and the Chronicle bitterly complains of the sore oppression 
of the land. The malcontent nobles leagued against him. 
Flambard, escaped from the Tower, and Robert of Bell6me the Barons, 
concerted with Robert of Normandy an attack on England, 
purposing to place Duke Robert on the throne. Rallying to 
his aid the English and the lesser vassals, Henry worsted 
his foes. In the decisive battle of Tinchebrai, the two 
Roberts were taken prisoners and Normandy came into the Normandy" 
possession of the English king. Duke Robert lingered out 
his days a captive in Cardiff" Castle, and the Norman nobles, 
deprived of pretext for revolt, never again lifted hand 



60 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



against Henry. In 1135 this good king died. " Then there 
was tribulation soon in the land, for every man that could, 
forthwith robbed another. ... A good man he was 
and there was great awe of him. No man durst misdo 
against another in his time. He made peace for man and 
beast." 

The barons had promised the dying king to place his 
daughter Matilda on the throne ; but the kingdom was a 




Vision of Henry I. An ancient Drawing, showing the 
Costume of the Clergy. 



Stephen. 
113o-1154. 



turbulent one to be ruled by a woman. There was a rival 
claimant, Stephen of Blois, son of the Conqueror's daugh- 
ter Adela. His cause was championed by the citizens of 
London, who hoped that he would maintain the peace and 
good order so essential to commercial prosperity. The sup- 
port of the city of London has again and again in Eng- 
lish history determined a doubtful contest. Stephen was 
chosen king by the barons and was soon after crowned 
at Winchester. But the hope of the Londoners was 
doomed to disappointment. Matilda urged her claims. 
Her cause was supported by divers of the great nobles who 



Norman England. 61 



were, however, less concerned to maintain her right than 
to defy the royal authority. The weak, unstable character 
of Stephen gave them favorable opportunity to assert their 
independence. " When the traitors perceived that he was 
a mild man and soft and good and did no j ustice, then did 
they all wonder. . . . Every powerful man built him- 
self castles and held them against the king and they filled 
the land full of castles. They cruelly oppressed the 
wretched men of the land with castle-works. When the 
castles were made they filled them with devils and evil 
men. Then took they those men that they imagined had 
any property, both by night and by day, peasant men 
and women, and put them in prison for their gold and 
their silver, and tortured them with unutterable torture. 
. . . Many thousands they killed with hunger ; and 
that lasted the nineteen years while Stephen was king, 
and ever it was worse and worse. They laid imposts on 
the towns continually and called it ' censerie ' ; when the 
wretched men had no more to give, they robbed and 
burned all the towns, so that thou mightest well go all a 
day's journey and thou shouldst never find a man sitting 
in a town or the land tilled. . . . Men said openly 
that Christ and his saints slept." Better than such an- 
archy was the harsh rule of the Conqueror. 

Stephen did not seek the support of the English as 

1 L1 & Civil War. 

Henry had done. He foolishly spent his treasure in 

hiring foreign mercenaries, who were even more cruel than 

the barons and alienated the people from their once-loved 

king. Still Matilda could not win the kingdom. In the 

battle of Lincoln, Stephen was taken prisoner and for a 1141. 

few months Matilda reigned ; but she proved to be a harsh 

and vengeful mistress. London revolted and the great 

barons renewed their allegiance to Stephen. The Angevin 

cause seemed lost when it was taken up and brought to a 



62 The Growth of the English Nation. 

triumphant issue by Matilda's son, the young Henry. 
Though but nineteen years of age, this prince was already 
lord of Normandy, Maine, Anjou, and Aquitaine, and 
ruled these restless provinces with a strong hand. He 
arrived in England in 1153 and, rallying Matilda's adher- 
ents about him, made such headway that Stephen was 
fain to treat for peace. A compromise was negotiated by 
the Archbishop of Canterbury. The king had just lost his 
Treaty of onl y son > Eustace. He agreed, on condition that he might 

nl3 Uillgf0rd ' retain the crown during his life, to recognize Henry as his 
son and heir. So the long strife came to an end. When 
Stephen died in the next year, Henry was beyond sea ; 
" but no man durst do other than good for the great awe of 
him." On his return he was crowned king and entered 
into undisputed possession of his inheritance. 

RESULTS OF THE CONQUEST. 

During the eighty -eight years since the Norman invasion, 
the aspect of England had undergone great changes. The 
Norman race had succeeded in establishing itself in posses- 
sion not only of the crown but of every post of power and 
profit throughout the kingdom. No English names are 
to be found among the tenants-in-chief until a century 
after the Conquest. Latin was the language of the Church 
and the law, French that of the court. The separation 
between the two races, the conquering and the conquered, 
was wide and deep. Contempt and tyranny on the one 
hand, fear and hate on the other, prolonged the antago- 
nism to which the harsh methods of the Conquest had 
given rise. Yet Saxon and Norman were originally of the 
same stock. The case was not that of the English in India 
or the French in Algiers. It was evident that the two 
races must eventually come together and fuse into one. 

The immediate effects of the Norman rule were pregnant 



Norman England. 63 



with result. First of all England was brought into close Renewed inter- 
relations with the Continent. The Conqueror ruled Nor- continent 111 th ° 
mandy and England as one kingdom. His great barons 
held estates on both sides the Channel and much journey- 
ing between the French and English territories became 
necessary. Under William Rufus, Normandy and England 
were independent realms, but Tinchebrai gave Normandy to 
Henry I., and the duchy and the kingdom remained united 
for a hundred years thereafter. This political connection 
brought about such relations with the Continent as had 
not existed since Britain was a Roman colony. Com- 
merce revived ; merchants ventured to undertake a Euro- 
pean trade, carrying to France, Flanders, and Germany 
the agricultural products of England, wool and grain, fish 
and cattle. In exchange they brought back the fine cloths, 
furs, wines, and other luxuries required by the Norman 
gallants. Lead and tin were also exported, while the in- 
dispensable iron, not yet discovered in the barren North- 
umbrian hills, was fetched from the Baltic coast. The 
precious metals, too, especially silver, were imported in 
considerable quantity. Commercial enterprise carried 
Englishmen far abroad, to Paris, to Marseilles, to Venice, 
and the Orient. The high-priced dainties they brought 
back in their brave ships were not their most valuable 
cargo. Strange tales of foreign lands and customs, mar- 
velous stories of romance and adventure, wisdom won by 
contact with a superior civilization, these were the imports 
that affected most deeply the life of the English people. 

Furthermore the Conquest brought England into touch intellectual 
with the learning of the Continent. From the Universities ""P" 1556 - 
of Bologna and Paris, from the renowned Abbey of Bee, 
came Lanfranc and Anselm and many less famous scholars 
and ecclesiastics, who introduced the Latin tongue and 
the continental authors and inspired the English Church 



64 The Growth of the English Nation. 



with a new zeal for letters. Out of obscure beginnings 
rose the great University of Oxford " where the clergy 
in England chiefly flourished and excelled in clerkly lore." 
Thousands of English youths crowded its cloisters, taking 
upon themselves the monk's vows, not in religious de- 
votion, but because the monastery afforded the only op- 
portunity for the scholar's life. The intellectual labors of 
these devotees of learning were confined to the transcription 
of Latin manuscripts, ecclesiastical and classical, and the 
embellishment of the national annals. The wordly-minded 
ecclesiastic found at the court a more congenial employ- 
ment. Since the clerics were the only learned men of the 
day, they were almost exclusively employed by the Nor- 
man kings in the administration of the government. 
Hence resulted a notable modification of political theory. 
The monastic training had instilled into the thought of 
these cowled chancellors those conceptions of law and gov- 
ernment which were handed down by the Church as part of 
her heritage from imperial Rome. Doctrines of the king's 
Exaltation of supremacy and the subject's duty of obedience are not 

the king's 

authority. of English origin, but derived from the Continent. They 

were imported into England by Norman priests. More- 
over the greedy misrule of the barons tended to foster 
respect for the king's authority. The supremacy of the 
king came to be regarded as the safeguard of the subject 
against political anarchy such as devastated England under 
Edward the Confessor and the feeble Stephen. From the 
king's officers might be expected a more uniform justice 
than was meted out in the local courts, and men were will- 
ing to pay dear for such protection. Neither the stern 
cruelty of William nor the heavy taxes imposed by the 
Henries could obliterate the remembrance of " the good 
peace they had made in the land." Throughout these cen- 
turies king and barons were engaged in a well-matched 



Aorman England. 65 



contest for mastery. The ambitious vassals maintained 

a prolonged resistance against the royal authority. Again 

and again the strife broke out, — in the revolt of Hereford 

and Norfolk against the Conqueror, in the opposition of 

the barons to the exactions of William Rufus, in the rising 

against Henry I., led by Flambard, in the contemptuous 

misrule of the great lords under Stephen. It was a 

veritable tug of war, and the kings were forced to fall 

back on the English who, having their own grievances 

against the arrogant Norman lords, were ready to lend aid 

to the royal cause. 

In the long struggle between king and barons, the clergy 

Relations of 
as a rule cast their weight on the side of royalty, and yet, Church and 

influenced by the mounting ambition of the popes, the 
Church asserted privileges which not infrequently brought 
her into antagonism with the throne. Rome had hoped 
from William's invasion of England a revival of the old- 
time relations between the papal see and the English 
Church, and these anticipations were in some degree 
realized. There followed close upon the Conquest a revival, Ecclesiastical 
if not of Christianity, at least of ecclesiasticism. The Nor- estabfishe^f 
man clergy introduced into England the stricter discipline ^ iction over " 
imposed upon the continental Church by Gregory VII. offerisefof 
Celibacy was enforced among the superior clergy, although laftff and 
the parish priests were contemptously left to keep their 
wives if they would. Monasticism received a new impulse 
with the incoming of the Cistercians, whose voluntary 
poverty and severe asceticism attracted the admiration and 
devotion of the people. William's attitude toward the 
Church was that of the able ruler who sees that the clergy 
may serve an important function in maintaining order and 
in rallying the people to the support of the king. He de- 
posed the English prelates and appointed Normans in their 
stead, thus securing his own influence in all the superior 



66 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Relations of 
king and pope. 



Gregory VII., 
1073-1085. 
Aimed to es- 
tablish celib- 
acy, to repress 
simony, to 
free Church 
from control 
of State. 



offices ; but the clerics so appointed were selected with an 
eye to their churchmanship as well as to their loyalty. 
Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
was one of the most learned and able 
ecclesiastics of his day. William fur- 
ther converted the Church hierarchy 
to his purpose by requiring from each 
bishop and abbot the oath of homage 
and such feudal service as would be 
due from a lay lord holding the same 
lands. The Church was thus feudal- 
ized, and every acre of monastery land 
and every parish glebe was made to 
render its quota to the royal treasury. 
The Conqueror was a faithful son of 
the Church, and yet the pretensions of 
Gregory VII. to supreme authority in 
ecclesiastical affairs were met by un- 
compromising denial. The wise and 
A of S th > e P Eieventh° se war y king won from the pope, whose 
Century. ^vvill no other European monarch had 

been able to withstand, most important concessions. No 
excommunication was to be declared in England without 
the king's leave. No papal bull could be received or exe- 
cuted without his consent. Legislation in church synod 
was subject to his veto. Appointments to ecclesiastical 
office were to be made by the secular power. The questions 
thus settled by the friendly mediation of Lanfranc were, 
however, destined to be opened again and again, and to vex 
statesmen for centuries to come. For example, the right of 
appointment to ecclesiastical office, which had been readily 
conceded to the great William, was challenged in the reign 
of Henry I. Anselm, the saintly successor of Lanfranc, 
refused to consecrate the bishops who had received in- 




Norman England. 67 



vestiture from the king. The conflicting claims of king Right of inves- 
and pope were again compromised. Prelates were to be pointing 6 to a" 
elected by the clergy, but in the king's presence. The ring ne'e- claimed 

t)V kirisf sine© 

and the crozier, symbols of the spiritual function, were to incumbent 
be bestowed by the pope, while the newly elected bishop or by the pope ' 
abbot was to render homage to the king for his estates. bent was an" 

Upon the life of the common people the effect of the ia 1C ' 

Conquest is not easily ascertained. The early chroniclers, Lif f t . 
like later historians, are so fully occupied in recounting P e °P le - 
the deeds of rich and powerful personages, that they 
tell little of the aspirations, the achievements, the failures 
of the humble men and women who till the fields and 
weave the cloth, and perform the thousand tasks, without 
which the projects of king and statesman would avail 
nothing for the welfare of the land. This people, whose 
deeds no chronicler records, no poet sings, and concerning 
whose life we can gather only the scantiest information, was 
the major part of the nation. The population of England 
in the eleventh century was about 1,500,000. Judging from 

data afforded by the Domesday Survey only three per cent 

J j j j r census of adult 

belonged to the feudal nobility. The remaining ninety-seven males. 

Vassals of the 

per cent were small landed proprietors, serfs, and slaves, crown. 600; 

subtenants, 

The feudal lords in the eleventh century were almost 7,871 ; ecclesi- 
astics, 994 ; free 

without exception Norman, while the lower orders were proprietors, 

33,169 ; serfs, 

wholly English. Speaking the Saxon tongue, ministered 195,580; slaves, 

25,156; bur- 
toby Saxon priests, observing the social and political cus- gesses, 7,968. 

toms of their ancestors, they lived a life apart and were 
little affected by the change of masters. The principal 
Saxon landholders were, as has been seen, degraded by the 
Conquest, but the tillers of the soil were left in undisturbed 
possession. They lived on in the ancient rural communi- 
ties (called manors in the Norman speech), and cultivated 
the land they had inherited from their fathers, rendering 
to the new lord the labor, money, or product service re- 



68 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Rectitudines 
singula rum 
personarum. 



Serf (villein), 
agricultural 
laborer, bound 
to the soil, but 
personally 
tree. 



Feast of St. 
Michael, 
September 11. 

Feast of 
St. Martin, 
November 11. 



quired by local usage. A quaint document of the tenth 
century gives us detailed information as to the duties and 
privileges of the serf. His services are "various, in some 
places heavy, in others moderate." He is required to work 
on his lord's land two days a week throughout the year 
and three days a week through the spring plowing and 
planting and during harvest. Other special services (boon- 
work) must be rendered upon demand. " From Martinmas 
to Easter he shall lie at his lord's fold as often as he is 
bid." He may be asked to fetch and carry, but "if he do. 
carrying he is not to work while his horse is out." The re- 
maining time he is free to use on his own land. On the 
great church festivals, the characteristic marks of time in 
the medieval calendar, each villein must bring to the 
manor house a stipulated contribution in money or pro- 
duce. On Michaelmasday, he pays tenpence rent ; on 
Martinmasday, thirty -three sesters of barley and two hens; 
at Easter, a young sheep or twopence. It is the duty of 
the serfs to feed the lord's hounds and provide for the vil- 
lage swineherd to whom each man gives six loaves " when 
he goes to mast." The lord, for his part, provides his serf 
with thirty acres of land and an " outfit ", i. e., two oxen, 
one cow, and six sheep, tools for his work, and utensils for 
his house. " Then when he dies his lord takes back what 
he leaves." " This land law holds on some lands, but here 
and there, as I have said, it is heavier or lighter, for all 
land services are not alike. On some lands the serf shall 
pay a tax in honey, on some in meat, on some in ale. Let 
him who is over the district take care that he knows what 
the old land customs are and what are the customs of the 
people." To secure the fulfillment of these numerous and 
complicated services required sedulous attention, and for 
this purpose the lord of the manor, often an absentee, em- 
ployed a steward or bailiff. His was a hateful task and 



Norman England. 69 



medieval literature abounds in sarcastic allusions to his 

greed and cunning. Serf labor seems to us a cumbersome 

method of getting work done, but it was the form of 

service most convenient in a feudal society because it did 

not require direct supervision. It was to every man's 

interest to cultivate his own plot of land to the best of his 

knowledge and ability. On the demesne land he gave but 

t . • mi -r^ i „ Demesne, that 

a grudging service. The Domesday Survey reports only part of the es- 
tate which the 
twenty-five thousand slaves, and after the eleventh century lord held in 

, . ,, , , „,, . . exclusive pos- 

the number rapidly decreased. This was in part a conse- session. It 

„., ,.. .ij, , ,. was cultivated 

quence of the edict against the slave-trade issued by the by serf or slave 
„ , . ,, , or (later) hired 

Conqueror, but was due even more to the prevalence of the labor. 

feudal relation with which property in human beings was 

inconsistent. The free proprietors formed only twelve per 

cent of the population, and they were to be found for the 

most part in the north among the recent Danish settlements. 

In the south, the feudal tenure was well-nigh universal. 

Life within the manor was rude and simple in the ex- 
treme. Communication with the outside world, even with 
the neighboring villages, was of rare occurrence. Each 
community was self-sustaining. Iron implements, mill- 
stones, salt, and spices must be brought from a distance, 
but food, shelter, and clothing were amply provided by 
local industries. The methods of agriculture were primitive 
and much of the land lay unreclaimed and waste. Per- 
haps not more than one fifth of the cultivable area of Eng- 
land was in use. The people naturally sought the fertile 
fields of the southeast, while the less hospitable regions 
of the west and north were but sparsely settled. 

Fully three fourths of the population of medieval Eng- 
land was agricultural, the proportion between urban and 
rural inhabitants being about what it is in Ireland to-day. 
Mention is made in the Domesday Survey of eighty towns, 
but only six of these were other than large villages. As in 



70 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Serfs escaping 
to a town and 
remaining un- 
claimed a year 
and a day 
acquired free- 
dom. Consid- 
erable ad- 
ditions were 
thus made to 
the town pop- 
ulation. 



Ireland, the most prosperous towns were seaports. London 
and Southampton controlled the trade between southern 
England and the Continent. Norwich brought the prod- 
ucts of the eastern counties within reach of the sea, while 
the western districts found an outlet at Bristol. York, 
Lincoln, Winchester, and Oxford were ancient fortified 
places of great strategic importance. The Conquest tended 
to foster the growth of towns since it not only opened new 
commercial opportunities on the Continent, but, by bring- 
ing the warring sections of England under one strong 
administration, facilitated internal trade. There ensued a 
period of marked prosperity. Increasing by rapid strides in 
wealth, numbers, and influence, the townsmen were soon 
in position to buy from the king or their over-lord charters 
of liberty that secured to them, in return for an annual 
tax, freedom from further imposts and practical self-govern- 
ment. The affairs of the burgesses were apparently held 
quite beneath the notice of the royal court and its chroni- 
clers. The towns were thought of only as a source of 
revenue. Yet in the silent, unheeded growth of these trad- 
ing communities there was preparing a power destined 
to play a notable part in the nation's history. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Fusion of Races. 

Illustrative Readings. Important Dates. 

Reign of Henry II., 1154-1189. 



Becket ; Tennyson. 
Henry the Second ; Green. 
Ivanhoe; Scott. 
The Talisman ; Scott. 



1164. Constitutions of Clarendon. 
1172. Death of Archbishop Thomas. 
1174. Rising of the Barons. 
Reign of Richard I., 1189-1199. 
1194. Richard's return from the 
Crusade. 



HENRY II. 

Henry of Anjou was only twenty-one when he came to 
the throne but already men had learned " to bear him. 
great love and fear." Born of two remarkable races, he 
inherited the strong qualities of each. His instinct of gov- 
ernment, his laborious industry, and his practical wisdom 
were Norman, but he was Angevin in his patience, his 
tenacity, and his craftiness. The contrasts of his character 
were as marked as its power. In his passions he was half 
a savage ; the results of long patient scheming were often 
marred by a moment's ungovernable rage, and his irrever- 
ence was only equaled by his superstition ; he scoffed at 
God one instant, and groveled at the feet of a priest the 
next. All Henry's force and power and untiring activity 
were needed for the task before him. Order was to be re- England, 
stored, a rebellious baronage, grown more unruly during 
the disorder of Stephen's reign, was to be curbed, and the 
Church, dangerously strong and conscious of its strength, 
was to be brought within bounds. There were, moreover, 
new problems to be faced. Beneath the anarchy of the pre- 
ceding years, the forces of modern civilization were at 
work, and in spite of misrule England shared in the great 

71 



72 



The Growth of the -English Nation. 



nry 
' Co 



the Continent. 



industrial and intellectual movement of the twelfth cen- 
tury. While rulers and barons were contending for the 
mastery, towns were growing in size and 
importance, new enterprises were started, 
and trade and commerce received a strong 
impetus. Outside the towns, Benedictine 
and Cistercian monks, the great farmers 
of the age, were at work changing the 
face of the country ; they drained swamps, 
built roads, and reclaimed new soil, they 
were even accused in their greed of en- 
croaching on the churchyards. Under 
their influence England was fast becom- 
ing the chief wool-growing center of the 
world. It was an age of eager living, of 
breathless activity, an age that outgrew 
rapidly the forms and systems of the past, 
that pressed forward to the new order of 
the future. 

Henry's first work was to carry out the provisions of the 
Treaty of Wallingford. The Flemish mercenaries were 
sent home, the adulterine castles were destroyed, the courts 
of justice reestablished. In rapid journey ings north and 
west he brought the rebellious border chieftains to terms, 
and wrung submission from the Welsh and Scots. By 115S 
outward order was restored, and he could turn his atten- 
tion to his possessions on the Continent. It is a mistake 
to look upon Henry's interests as bounded by England ; 
he was a European ruler before he was an English king, 
and almost to the last he subordinated England to the 
interests of his continental domains. The ruling note in 
the policy of the early part of his reign was his desire to 
found a great Anglo-Angevin empire, but his position in 
France as well as in England was full of difficulties. To 




Henry II. 



DOMINIONS 

F¥$k %K°J OFTHK 

* Wy "^-y 7 HOUSE OF ANJOU 

'•T Perthes <frr, , 



Scale of Miles 

< ' i. 

100 ISO 



dominions of the House of Aujuu 

B T M 




Fusion of Maces. 



73 



the lands, inherited from his father and mother, he had 
added the duchy of Aquitaine, the dowry of Queen 
Eleanor, and his rule extended from the Orkneys to the 
Pyrenees ; but his vast possessions were held together by 
no common interest, no common tie except that of sub- 
jection to himself, and in each his title was disputed. 
Moreover, he stood between two foes ; on the one hand 
were his vassals, jealous of the interference of one who 
was to them almost a foreigner, on the other was his 
suzerain lord, the king of France, eagerly watching for a 
chance to stir up revolt against him. 
For the time being, however, he 
was able through force and diplo- 
macy to secure himself against all 
danger. 

Henry II. saw plainly how much 
assistance England might be in 
carrying out his policy, and it was 
to strengthen his hold on the people 
as well as to increase the royal rev- 
enue that he began the reorgan- 
ization of the administrative ma- 
chinery. The need for reform was 
crying. Five or six different legal 
systems were administered in as 
many different courts. The men that gave judgment 
spoke a language unknown to the judged. Old cumber- 
some forms of procedure, handed down from a time 
when society was stationary, were still retained and 
the result of a trial was more often injustice than 
justice. To remedy these evils men were wont to look to 
the king ; he was the fountain of justice, his will was law. 
It was Henry's great merit that he replaced the personal, 
irregular interference of the crown by a well understood 




A Friar. 



Legal reforms. 



74 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



and uniform system of administration. He reorganized 
the central courts of justice, the Exchequer and Curia 
Regis, and to make their great powers more effectual, he 
sent itinerant justices from these courts into each shire to 
try all important civil and criminal cases. At the same time, 
by the decrees of the Grand Assize and the Assize of Claren- 
don, the Norman principle of recognition or inquest on 
oath was applied to all suits. If it were a question of the 
title to laud, twelve sworn men of the district chosen indi- 
rectly by the sheriff were to decide the matter on their 
own knowledge or on information obtained from others. 
If they could not agree in their judgment, 
other men were added until twelve were 
found of one mind. A similar method was 
used in criminal cases. Jurors, sworn men 
of the hundred, were to accuse before the 
shire court all whom they thought guilty of 
crime. They were sworn to speak the truth, 
hence their accusation w T as called a verdict 
(vere dicta), and there was no appeal from it 
except to the ordeal. Even if a man stood 
that test, he was bound to abjure the realm 
as one of evil repute. It is from these juries 
of recognition and presentment that by a 
long series of changes our modern jury 
system has been evolved. The results of 
Henry's reforms were of far-reaching im- 
Queen Eleanor. p 0r t ance . Tn e royal exchequer was enriched 
and the royal authority strengthened by the increased 
business of the king's courts ; at the same time the hold of 
the barons on their vassals was weakened, for the revival 
of the shire courts was at the expense of the private juris- 
dictions. Moreover through their enforced activity on the 
local juries, Englishmen received a training in public work 




Fusion of Races. 75 



The Church. 



that fitted theni as nothing else could have done for the 
part they were to play at a later day in the government of 
the nation. 

It was but as a part of his scheme for the ordering of his 
realm that Henry on his return to England in 1103 took up 
the question of the relations of State and Church. His 
aim was to establish one law for all, but a great body of 
his subjects stood wholly outside the secular law, beyond 
the reach of the royal courts. The clerical order, which at 
this time included all of the educated and professional 
classes, had, by a wide interpretation of the Conqueror's 
plan of separate ecclesiastical courts, freed itself entirely 
from the secular jurisdiction. But the Church could not 
inflict bodily punishment, hence no matter how serious 
his offense, a clerk convicted of crime needed to fear noth- 
ing worse than fine or imprisonment. As a result, holy 
orders had become a refuge for the lawless, and crime and 
disorder were on the increase. Henry had already pre- 
pared for his work of reform by forcing the primacy, Archbishop 
made vacant by the death of Theobald, upon his friend 
and chancellor, Thomas Becket. Although an ecclesiastic, 
Thomas had shown himself so zealous a servant of the 
crown in the work of restoring order and administering 
the realm, that men had mocked at the haste with which 
he "put off the deacon" ; but now he hung back declar- 
ing he could not "serve two masters." Henry insisted, 
however, and the election took place, but Thomas at 
once resigned the chancellorship, and it was plain that 
a breach between the two would not long be deferred. 

It was over the trial of a clerk accused of murder that 

The Consti- 

they first crossed swords. Henry would have the offender tutions of 

Clarendon. 

brought before the royal courts, but Thomas declared that 

the case belonged to the Church. Both appealed to the 
"customs" of the realm, and to settle what those customs 



76 The Growth of the English Nation. 

were a great council was held at Clarendon in 1164. There 
the ancient usages, collected and written down by some of 
the older nobles, were read before the assembled bishops 
and baronage. They were in the main the provisions es- 
tablished by the Conqueror and Henry I., and these passed 
unchallenged, but over the clauses relating to the jurisdic- 
tion of the ecclesiastical courts dispute arose. The Church 
was allowed to retain its control of all questions relating to 
marriages or wills or involving an oath, but in case of 
doubt the Curia Eegis was to decide where the suit be- 
longed. A clerk accused of crime was to be tried in the 
secular courts, and if convicted the Church should not in- 
terfere to protect him. Moreover all appeal to Rome with- 
out the consent of the king was forbidden. Thomas pas- 
sionately refused to sign the Constitutions, as they were 
called, and withdrew from the council. A little later, fear- 
ing for his life, he fled to France. 

For ten years the struggle continued between the two 
men, once friends, now bitter foes. Henry was contending 
for the supremacy of the State, Thomas for the indepen- 
dence of the Church. Each was sincere in his purpose, 
even though the king had an eye to his own authority as 
well as the good of the realm, and the archbishop never 
forgot personal ambition in the interests of his order. The 
king was perhaps in advance of his time, the priest did not 
realize that certain privileges of the Church were no longer 
necessary to her usefulnesss. 
All attempts at compromise between the two were ren- 
Thomas, dered vain by the king's unreasoning violence and by the 

stubbornness with which Thomas held to the limiting 
clause "Saving the honor of my order." Excommunica- 
tion of the churchmen who supported the king was 
answered by outlawry of all the archbishop's relatives, and 
when the pope threatened to lay the kingdom under an in- 



Fusion of Maces. 11 



terdict, Henry decreed that anyone bringing the interdict to 
England should be punished as a traitor. At last, in 1170, a 
half reconciliation was brought about, and both men agreed 
to let the past go, but no sooner had the archbishop re- 
turned to England than he renewed the attack on the king 
by excommunicating those bishops who had taken part 
in the recent coronation of the king's eldest son. Henry, 
beside himself with rage at the news, uttered the hasty 
wish that he were freed from his stubborn foe. A few days 
later the archbishop was struck down in his own cathedral 
of Canterbury by four knights, roused to the bloody deed 
by the king's wrathful words. Thomas had won the crown 
of martyrdom to which he had so long aspired, and Henry 
was called to face the indignant horror of all Christendom. 
In vain he disowned the act and promised to punish the 
murderers ; threatened with excommunication, he with- 
drew hastily to Ireland, hoping to appease the papal wrath 
by carrying out the long mooted conquest of that country. 
Henry's work in Ireland was still incomplete when he 
was recalled by the rebellious attitude of his son Henry, the Baronage, 
whom he had caused to be crowned king that the succes- 
sion might be secured, and who now wished to set his 
father aside. The danger from the young king was the 
greater because to him the discontented on both sides the 
Channel looked as a leader; Philip of France was always on 
the alert to stir up revolt, and, as a writer of that day says, 
"there were few barons in England not wavering in their 
allegiance to the king and ready to desert him at any 
time." From the beginning of his reign Henry had borne 
with heavy hand upon the strong feudal barons. He 
destroyed their castles, sent his justices into their courts, 
and forbade private coinage. In the Great Council, he 
diminished their importance by compelling the attendance 
of the lesser tenants-in-chief, and in 1170 he struck a blow 



78 The Growth of the English Nation 

at their political power by withdrawing the office of 
sheriff from them, giving it to men of lesser rank trained 
in his courts and more dependent upon his will. More- 
over, Henry's plan of taking scutage or shield money in 
lieu of service in the field, although apparently in 
the interest of the baronage, told against their military 
superiority, for it took from their bodies of armed retainers 
the chance of acquiring skill in war, while it enabled the 
king to hire foreign mercenaries upon whom he could 
rely. These acts were viewed with alarm by the nobles, 
and the outbreak on the Continent brought matters to a 
crisis. In July, 1173, Normandy took up arms for the 
young king, and in a few months half Eugland was in 
revolt. Ireland had risen against the English rule, and 
the king of Scotland at the head of an army was advancing 
into the northern counties. Henry was in Normandy 
when the news of the rising reached him, but he at 
once hastened home ; he had learned the worth of his 
English possessions, and "he preferred that his lands be- 
yond the sea should be in peril rather than his own realm 
of England." By a series of hard-won victories he suc- 
ceeded in breaking down all resistance both in England 
and on the Continent, and in a few months the revolt was 
crushed and his foes were suing for mercy. 

During the next few years Henry's power was at its 
height ; by a compromise with the papal legate he secured 
the points at issue in his quarrel with Thomas, and with 
the aid of his able officials he worked out an administra- 
tive system through which he could make his will felt 
from one end of the kingdom to the other. 
Henry's Death. ^ ne °l ose °f hi s reign was disturbed by the rebellion of 
his sons whom he loved and trusted in spite of repeated 
treachery. The young king was dead, but Richard, the 
heir apparent, fearing the favor with which Henry re- 



Fusion of Races. 



7U 



gardedhis youngest child, John, allied himself with Philip 
of France and rose against his father. Defeated on all 
sides and ill of a mortal disease, Henry submitted to the 
hard terms forced upon him and turned to Chinon to die 
They brought him from Philip a list of those who had 
conspired against him, and first on the list stood the name 
of his favorite son John. Turning his face to the wall 
he said, "Now let things go as they will — I care no more 
for myself or for the world." A little later he died, mur- 
muring, " Shame, shame on a conquered king." 

Of an alien race, speaking a foreign tongue, and spend- 
ing but thirteen of the thirty-five years of his reign in Henry's reign. 
England, Henry of Anjou has nevertheless left an indeli- 
ble mark on English history. His ambition to figure as a 
continental ruler was a mistake, his Anglo-Angevin em- 
pire hardly outlived the century, but his policy deter- 
mined England's for- 
eign relations for cen- 
turies to come. The 
effect can be felt still 
in the traditional hos- 
tility between the En- 
glish and the French 
people. It was chiefly, 
however, through his 
work at home that he 
impressed his person- 
ality on the national Seal of Henry 1 1, 
life. He destroyed feudalism as a system of government, 
brought the Church under the control of the State, and 
established a strong centralized administrative system. In 
doing this he raised the power of the crown to a dangerous 
height, but at the same time, in nationalizing the Church, 
in destroying the feudal traditions of the baronage, and in 




80 The Growth of the English Nation. 

reviving the activity of the local courts, he nourished the 
forces which in the next century were to bring that power 
within bounds. 

RICHARD I. 

In 1189 Richard, the third son of Henry II., succeeded 
his father on the throne. There is little likeness between 
Richard, the brilliant knight-errant, and Henry, the hard- 
working man of business, but in the elements of consti- 
tutional progress and national 
growth one reign is but the con- 
tinuation of the other. Abroad, 
Henry's policy was followed by 
his son, and at home the admin- 
istrative system was developed 
along lines already laid down. 

Though born in England, 
Richard was even more truly 

than his father a foreign king. 
Richard I. Cceur de Lion. Bufc twice during Ms reign of 

ten years did he spend a few months in England, and 
he touched the national life only through his demands for 
money. Soon after taking possession of his English king- 
dom he started on a crusade to the Holy Land, leaving the 
realm in the hands of his justiciar, William Longchamp. 
Called back in 1192 by news of trouble at home, he fell into 
the power of his enemy, the emperor of Germany, and for 
two years was held a prisoner. Released at last on the 
promise of paying a heavy ransom, he made his way to 
England only to find his brother John in open revolt. 
But John was far too unpopular to be dangerous, and 
order was soon restored. There were greater dangers to 
be met elsewhere, however, and the rest of bis reign was 
spent in the effort to secure Normandy against tbe attacks 
of the French king. In 1199 his short troubled career came 




Fusion of Races. 



81 



to a close ; he was struck down by a shot from a castle he 
was besieging in Limousin, and he lived only long enough 
to declare John his heir, and to cause the barons to take the 
oath of allegiance. 

Richard's share in the constitutional 
achievements of his reign was only indirect. 
Known in history and romance as the Lion- 
Hearted, the chivalrous soldier, the valiant 
crusader, to his English subjects he must 
have appeared a needy and rather greedy 
ruler who never thought of England except 
when in want of money. Probably, how- 
ever, he conferred on the country the greatest 
benefit in his power by absenting himself on 

foreign wars. Richard 

was a warrior, not a 

statesman ; he could not 

have understood his 

father's methods, and 

had he remained in England he would 

only have interfered in the development 

of the political system so carefully elab- Richard's 
r J J ministers. 

orated in the previous reign. In his 
absence the government was in the 
hands of such men as Longchamp and 
the Archbishop Hubert Walter, men 
trained under the eye of the late king 
and governed by the traditions of his 
reign. They were loyal servants of the 
crown, but their task was a difficult one, 
for the nation was becoming restive un- 
der the increasingly heavy burden of taxation, and John, as 
faithless to his brother as he was to his father, was at hand 
to take advantage of any discontent. To meet the demand 





Richard I. 



A Crusader. 



82 



The Growth of Hie English Nation. 



Richard's 
Ransom. Aid 
oq the 
knights' 
fee. Tallage 
on towns. 
Hideage and 
carucage on 
land taking 
place of Dane- 
geld. A quar- 
ter of the 
movables of 
every person 
in the realm. 



State of the 
country. 



Literature. 



of the king for money, the ministers were obliged to resort 
to every expedient. Personal property, taxed for the first 
time in the reign of Henry the Second, was now regularly 
assessed, and in 1194, when the nation was called upon to 
pay the king's ransom, old forms of taxes were revived 
and new ones were invented ; no class of persons, no kind 
of property, was allowed to escape. It was in part because 
of the difficulty of assessing personal property, and partly 
from a wish to conciliate the people that the assessment of 
taxes was placed in the hands of juries elected by the free- 
holders of the shire. To the same body was intrusted at 
about this time the election of the juries of presentment. 
Thus the principles of election and representation were 
making their way in the administrative system, and at the 
same time the nation was receiving in matters of finance 
and justice a training in self-government — the necessary 
preparation for parliamentary rule. 

SOCIAL PROGRESS. 

The England which Richard passed on to his worthless 
brother John was not the England of Norman time. Dur- 
ing the half century that had elapsed since the Treaty 
of Wallingford a new nation had sprung into existence, 
a nation conscious of itself, having its own literature, 
knowing its common interest. Under the rule of the 
Angevin the differences between Norman and English- 
man had well-nigh disappeared. The Great Charter, 
granted in the next reign, takes no note of race distinc- 
tions. The court still used French, but the Norman nobles 
had begun to learn the language of the subject race, and 
by the beginning of the thirteenth century English was 
the generally spoken tongue. Robert of Gloucester, writing 
at a later time, voices the prevailing sentiment in favor of 
the native language, in his indignant protest against the 
practices of the previous period : 



Fusion of Races. 83 



" And thus could the Normans speak but their own speech, 
They spake French, as at home, and their children so did teach. 
So that the high men of this land, who wear the Norman look, 
Hold all to that speech, that they from their fathers took. 
For save a man know French, small store by him men set. 
Rut low men hold to English, and to their own speech yet. 
I ween in all the world that there be countries none, 
That hold not to their own speech, save England alone." 

The new impulses which were stirring the life of the 
people found expression in the fresh, vigorous literary- 
outburst that marked the close of the century. The grow- 
ing national feeling was reflected in the work of Henry of 
Huntington and William of Malmesbury, who brought 
together the ballads and war songs embodying the tradi- 
tions of early English history. In their writings the fire 
and color lent by Norman influence transformed the meager 
records of the Saxon chroniclers into a full and entertaining 
narrative. Even more marked was the secular tone of the 
new literature. It smacks of the court rather than of the 
cloister, both in freedom of treatment and greater fullness 
of information. Gerald de Barri, writing the history 
of Wales and Ireland, proposed to tell "the doings 
of the common people," and in half scornful apology 
for his disregard of old forms adds, " new times re- 
quire new fashions ; it is better to be dumb than not to 
be understood." There is something more than revolt 
against narrow ecclesiastical tradition in the attitude of 
Geoffrey of Monmouth who, in his " History of the 
Britons," the basis of the legend of the Table Round, sets 
before the world an ideal of manhood far removed from 
the clerical type. Walter de Map goes a step further in 
hostility to priestly dominion when, in the " Confessions 
of Bishop Goliath," he holds up the medieval church to 
the scorn of his age. 

But even more truly than tbe literature did the uni- 
versities represent the stirring, vigorous spirit of the 



84 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



The Universi- 
ties, Oxford 
and Cain- 
bridge. 



It is stated 
that the stu- 
dents at Ox- 
ford num- 
bered 30,000. 



The Towns. 



time. Oxford, emancipated from the narrow traditions of 
the cloister, was now a school of European fame. The 
dark lecture rooms were crowded with students who 
flocked hither from all corners of the kingdom. Here 
every movement that stirred the political and ecclesiastical 
world first found expression, and in the narrow streets 
were fought out the questions of the day. " When Oxford 
draws knife, England's soon at strife," ran a popular say- 
ing. It was Oxford that 
led in the revolt against 
the intellectual tyranny 
and the spiritual corrupt- 
ness of the Church. That 
wider sympathy, which 
overleaped the bounds set 
by narrow provincial jeal- 
ousy, and included- the 
whole world in its view, 
was the outgrowth of this 
intercourse between men of 
Seal of Richard I. all classes and all nations ; 

and it was in the atmosphere of the schools, where intellect, 
not birth, was the measure of each man's position, that a 
free democratic spirit first manifested itself. 

Town and university were widely separated in ideals 
and interests, but the one no less than the other furthered 
the growth of a spirit of freedom and of sturdy self- 
dependence. Throughout the twelfth century the towns 
were moving steadily toward municipal freedom, Lon- 
don always in the lead, and the lesser towns making 
the rights which it had secured the goal of their efforts. 
By the close of the century the struggle for self-govern- 
ment was practically complete. Most of the towns had 
gained charters which gave them their own courts of 




Fusion of Races. 85 



justice, and the right of controlling local trade. They 
were also permitted to pay their taxes in a lump sum into 
the royal treasury, assessing and collecting their dues 
themselves. The larger towns, moreover, were beginning 
to acquire the right of choosing their own chief officer, 
the mayor or reeve, until now nominated by the crown. 
The commercial privileges granted were usually very ex- 
tensive. By the ordinary form of charter, trade was to be 
"quit and free from all tolls, dues, and customs at fairs 
or otherwise, in all harbors throughout all my dominions, 
both by the hither side and the further side of the sea, by 
land and by strand." 

In their efforts to gain the privilege of self-government, 
the towns were aided by the 
necessities of the king and 
nobles, who were often in sore 
straits to meet the expense of 
their crusading enterprises, 
and were glad to yield some 
liberty or exemption in return 
for ready money. Each right / /^ i 
gained was a matter of bar- 
gain. Rye and Winchelsey A MouQ ted Knight, 
secured their charters from Richard by supplying him with 
two ships for one of his expeditions, and, a little later, 
Portsmouth obtained the same much-coveted possession by 
paying part of the royal ransom. 

A more important factor in the emancipation of the 

The Merchant 
towns than the Crusades was the influence of the merchant Gild - 

gilds. With the development of commerce and industry un- 
der Henry and Richard, trade had become the ruling inter- 
est in the towns, and the merchant classes the most power- 
ful element in the life of the community. Their associations 
were originally formed merely to control the trade of the 




86 The Oroivth of the English Nation. 

place or to secure purely commercial privileges, such as the 
right of holding a fair or exemption from paying toll, but, 
including as they did the influential men of the com- 
munity, and strong through effective organization, they 
naturally took the lead in wringing from the crown judicial 
immunity or political power. Almost every town and even 
village possessed a gild, and it was here that the stir- 
ring, vigorous life of the community centered. Each gild 
had its hall where meetings were held to make rules by 
which honest trade might be secured, and non-gildsmen 
kept from sharing in the traffic of the place. Moreover the 
gild was in truth a brotherhood, concerning itself with the 
whole life of its members, caring for those who were sick, 
and admonishing those who had fallen on evil ways. 

As yet there was little freedom of commercial inter- 
course, protection and monopoly were the watchwords of 
the merchant world of the Middle Ages, and trade was 
shackled by many fetters. Business honor forbade meth- 
ods now looked upon as entirely legitimate, for example, 
forestalling, or buying up at a distance in order to sell at a 
higher price in the home market, and engrossing, or buy- 
ing at a season of plenty to hold over until a time when 
the goods were dear. 

The great event in the life of the town was the yearly 
granted by f air an( j ^e r ight of holding it was dearly prized. The 
great fair of Stourbridge, a few miles from Cambridge, was 
known throughout Europe. It was held in September and, 
for days before it opened, the roads were blocked by wagons 
laden with wares from every part of the world. In the 
crowded ways of the improvised market, merchants from 
Genoa, bringing rich silks and jewelry, jostled the Flemish 
manufacturers with their treasures of holland and fine 
linen, and the home traders displayed with pride their 
stores of wool, side by side with the fur and amber from 



The Fairs 



Fusion of Races. 87 



the Hanse towns of the Baltic. The narrow ways were 
thronged with men of all classes and every clime, trades- 
man and noble, soldier and priest, each intent on displaying 
his wares or laying in his winter stores. For three weeks 
the fair went on, and daily the mayor sat at his court "of 
the dusty feet " to give justice between disputing wayfarers, 
and on Sunday some monk from the neighboring priory 
said mass in the chapel that still stands near the spot where 
the fair was held. Between the chaffering, men discussed 
the questions of the hour, gave voice to the prevailing 
discontent, and laid plans which sometimes ripened into 
revolutionary action. 



CHAPTEE V. 

Struggle for the Charter. 

Illustrative Readings. Reign of Henry III., 1216-1272. 

King John ; Shakespeare. 1232, Personal Rule of Henry. 

Stephen Langton ; Maurice. 1258, Provisions of Oxford. 

Simon de Montfort ; Pauli. 1265, Battle of Evesham. 

Edward the First ; Tout. Reign of Edward Lj 1272-1307. 

Important Dates. 1282, Conquest of Wales. 

Reign of John, 1199-1216. 1295, The Model Parliament. 

1204, Loss of Normandy. 1297, Confirmation of the Char- 

1206, Election of Stephen Lang- ters. 

ton. 1305, Temporary Submission of 

1215, The Great Charter. Scotland. 

JOHN. 

" Foul as it is, hell itself is defiled by the fouler presence 
of John." This was the judgment of his own time on the 
disloyal youngest son of Henry II. Faithless to every 
trust, stained with every crime, John stands out as the 
most vicious and worthless of all the English kings. 
From first to last his life offers not one redeeming trait, not 
one saving act. And yet he had much of the ability of 
his house, together with an extraordinary power of win- 
ning the love of men. But he used his power over others 
only to their undoing, and the achievements of his un- 
doubted force and talent were rendered vain by the base- 
ness of his nature. 

The reign of John falls naturally into three periods, each 
ending in crushing defeat and humiliation ; in the first, 
interest centered in the wars with Philip of France ; during 
the second, the king was carrying on his unequal contest 
with Rome, and the last was occupied with the events that 
turned upon the granting of Magna Charta. 



Struggle for the Charter. 



89 



Loss of Nor- 
mandy. 



John's claim to succeed his brother met with no opposi- 
tion in England, but on the Continent he was confronted 
with a dangerous rival in his nephew Arthur of Brittany, 
who found a ready supporter in the French king. How- 
ever, Philip and Arthur soon quarreled. In Eleanor, his 
mother, John had a wise and experienced counselor, and 
within a few months he was master of all his continental 
possessions. But he misused his good fortune. Accused, 
and probably with justice, of the murder of his nephew 
Arthur, he gave Philip a chance to interfere, 
and Normandy was invaded by a French 
army. The barons, outraged and insulted by 
John, refused to rise in his behalf ; town after 
town opened its doors to Philip, and by 1203 
he was in possession of the province. A year 
later John's rule was limited to the lands 
south of the Garonne. That the work of 
Henry II. on the Continent was so soon un- 
done was due largely to John's utter worth- 
lessness, but the ease with which Normandy 
and Maine became a part of France showed 
how impossible was the idea of an Anglo- 
Angevin empire. To England the loss of 
the French provinces was an event of far- King John, 
reaching importance. The barons were compelled to choose Normandy 
between Normandy and England, and in choosing England ^rfin^anci 
they became for the first time wholly English in sympathy po^to U of 
and in interest. For the first time, too, since the Concmest, 
king and people were brought face to face. It was well 
perhaps for English freedom that just at the hour when the 
power of the crown was becoming dangerous, the throne 
should be occupied by a man whose crimes would make 
that power hateful to the people. 

The death of Queen Eleanor, John's wise and shrewd 




90 The Growth of the English Nation. 

The quarrel counselor, was followed by defeat in France, and when 
Church in 1205 tne kin S lost in Hubert Walter, Archbishop of 

Canterbury, his most faithful and fearless servant, he 
at once plunged into a quarrel with Rome, which ended 
in complete humiliation. The difficulty arose out of the 
question of choosing Walter's successor, both king and 
chapter claiming it as their privilege. John was probably 
in the right, the power of the crown to nominate to the see 
of Canterbury had been conceded even by Anselm, but he 
spoilt his cause by his unreasoning violence. Unable to 
come to an agreement among themselves, all parties at 
length concluded to carry the matter before the Roman 
Curia. Pope Innocent decided the question by rejecting 
both candidates and causing his own man to be chosen. 
In this he probably thought chiefly of advancing the inter- 
ests of Rome, but, by nominating Stephen Langton, he gave 
to England an able and disinterested leader in the coming 
struggle for freedom. The pope's decision was resisted by 
John, and he refused to admit the new archbishop to his 
see. Threat he met by counter threat ; if Innocent should 
lay the realm under an interdict, he would banish the clergy 
and seize their goods. But Innocent did not draw back, 
and in 1208 the interdict fell. " All worship save that of a 
few privileged orders, all administration of sacraments save 
that of baptism, ceased over the length and breadth of the 
country ; the church bells were silent, the dead lay un- 
buried on the ground, many of the bishops fled from the 
country." Still John did not yield, but made good his 
threats by subjecting the clergy to every outrage. In" 1209, 
the pope struck at the king personally by excommuni- 
cating him, but John met the excommunication with 
scorn. He feared only men, and, hated as he was, he 
was still too strong to be openly defied. There was but one 
weapon left the pope, and the time was come to use it, un- 



Struggle for the Charter. 91 

less he was to confess himself beaten. In 1212, he issued a 
bull deposing the king, absolving his subjects from, their 
allegiance and calling upon the French king to ex- 
ecute the decree. Even yet, John might have proved a 
match for the greatest of the popes had he not suddenly 
found himself confronted by a more formidable danger 
close at hand. 

Throughout his reign John had defied and oppressed the submission 
baronage. He had seized their castles and held their ° ome ' 
children as hostages. Illegal and burdensome enactions 
had been followed by repeated demands for service and 
scutage. Moreover, there was scarcely one among them 
but had some personal grounds for complaint. Their 
long endurance of John's tyranny bears witness to the 
strength which Henry's reforms had given the crown, but 
in secret the barons were united against the king, and it 
was the discovery of their conspiracies with Philip at this 
juncture that forced him to yield. His decision was 
quickly made. His present position was hopeless, but 
with the pope as an ally he could defy the rest of his 
foes. On the 15th of May he knelt before the papal legate 
at Ewell, and, surrendering his realm to the pope, received 
it back to hold as a vassal of the see of Rome. 

John and the pope were friends, but the English Church Risin£of 
still stood aloof, and, for the first time since the Conquest, the Baronage-, 
the crown was without the support of the clergy. The mo- 
ment was critical, for the ecclesiastical quarrel was followed 
at once by an outbreak of the barons. The smouldering 
resentment had at last burst into open revolt. To the 
accumulation of long-standing grievances was added a new 
one in John's demand that his vassals should follow him 
in the expedition he was planning for the recovery of 
France. On all sides he met with determined opposition. 
They would serve him within the four seas, they said, but 



92 The Growth of the English Nation. 

they would not cross the Channel. The baronage had 
hitherto lacked a leader, but the pope had unwittingly 
given them one in Stephen Langton who, ever since his 
arrival in England, had been untiring in his efforts to re- 
strain the king from despotic measures. Now, with true 
statesmanship, he came forward to give the nation the 
necessary basis for action. In a meeting 
of the barons, held at St. Paul's, he dis- 
played the half forgotten charter of Henry 
I., and proposed that it should be presented 
to the king as expressing the terms which 
he had promised to keep. John met the 
claim with delay. He was about to start 
on the expedition to France, from which 
he hoped much. During the next few 
months the fate of England trembled in 
the balance ; had John returned victorious 
the rebellious barons would have had no 
chance ; his overwhelming defeat at Bou- 
vines gave the signal for the triumph of 
English freedom. Matters at once came to 
a crisis at home. The northern barons 
Military Costume. took the lead in resistance, but one by 
one the others deserted the losing cause of the crown, 
until when they appeared before him in January, 1215, to 
present their demands, only his ministers and a few princes 
of royal blood still remained faithful to John. Neverthe- 
less he met their demand for the old liberties with obsti- 
nate refusal. " Why do they not ask me for my kingdom?" 
he cried. " I will never grant such liberties as will make 
me a slave," and he strove to divide opposition by detach- 
ing the Church from the constitutional party with offers of 
privilege and freedom. But in vain ; the nation stood 
firm and John was forced to bow to necessity. On June 




Struggle for the Charter. 93 

15, 1215, he met his outraged vassals at Runnymede by 
the Thames, and made full submission in setting his seal to 
the charter of liberties which they laid before him. 
The first step in the struggle for popular liberty was won. The Great 

Chflrtftr 

" The maintenance of the charter becomes henceforth the For text of 

watchword of English freedom." In form it is a royal old Boutn 

grant ; in reality it is a formal statement of liberties wrung general 'series, 

No 5 
from the king by his bishops and barons. It contains little 

that is absolutely new, but it expresses with exactness what 
before was undefined. Thoroughly English in spirit, there 
is no statement of abstract rights ; everything is thrown 
into a concrete, practical form. Some of the provisions 
limit the power of the king over his vassals, others protect 
the villein against his lord. To the Church are secured its 
ancient liberties ; to the towns, their newly bought privi- 
leges. The care with which the interests of the merchants 
are protected shows the increasing importance of trade. 
In words which underlie our whole judicial system the 
right of justice is secured. "We will not go against any 
man, nor send against him save by the legal judgment of 
his peers, or by the law of the land. To none will we sell 
or deny or delay right or justice." Among the most im- 
portant articles are the two which limit the power of the 
king in matters of taxation. "No scutage or aid shall be 
imposed in our kingdom unless by the general council of 
our kingdom," and just below, "For the holding the 
general council of the kingdom we shall cause to be sum- 
moned the bishops and greater barons, singly, and all 
others who hold of us in chief by our sheriffs generally." 
No interest, no class, was overlooked. In terms, the pro- 
visions by which freedom was to be secured were ample, 
but how ensure their fulfillment, how control a king 
whom no oath could bind? By the charter itself it was 
decreed that a council of twenty-five barons should be 



94 The Growth of the English Nation. 

chosen to enforce its provisions. "They have given me 
five-and-twenty over-kings," cried John in rage, and he 
at once turned to seek a waj T of evasion. 
The Pope an- ^he nex ^ f° ur months were a period of anarchy. The 

nuis the Char- p p e w ith little comprehension of the question at issue ab- 
solved John from his oath, and recalled Langton to Rome. 
The barons again took up arms. Without a leader and divi- 
ded among themselves, they could do little, and for a time 
John swept all before him. But Philip's opportunity had 
come. He renewed his intrigues with the English barons 
and finally at their request sent his son at the head of an 
army into the country. At once the tide turned, the 
French mercenaries refused to fight against their king, and 
John's cause was already lost when he died suddenly, worn 
out in mind and body. 

HENRY III. 

The death of John changed the whole aspect of affairs. 
A large part of the country was in the hands of the in- 
surgents, but the one bond of union among them was 
their common hatred of John ; John dead, differences of 
opinion became manifest, national pride reasserted itself, 
and the coalition showed signs of breaking up. Neverthe- 
less England might yet have passed under the rule of the 
foreigner had it not been for the patriotic action of the Earl 
of Pembroke, the greatest of the barons. Aided by Gualo, 
the papal legate, who rightly appreciated the situation, he 
caused Henry, the young son of John, to be crowned king, 
reissued the charter, thus detaching many of the barons 
from the French party, and by his vigorous efforts suc- 
ceeded in obliging Louis to withdraw his forces. 
The following years were occupied in reestablishing the 
of Henry. government. In the minority of the young king, Pem- 

broke acted as regent until his deatli in 1219, when he was 
succeeded by the justiciar, Hubert de Burgh, who continued 



Struggle for the Charter. 95 

his work, carrying on the administration according to the 
principles of the Charter. De Burgh's efforts to give to 
England sound government were complicated by the pres- 
ence of foreigners, the former supporters of John, and 
by the reappearance of the old feudal spirit of lawless- 
ness among the barons, and also by one or two attempts 
of Rome to interfere. But the justiciar succeeded in ex- 
pelling the foreigners, and, by reoccupying the royal castles, 
put a check on the barons, and Langton crowned his ser- 
vices to the cause of constitutional freedom by obtaining 
the papal promise that during his lifetime no Roman legate 
should be sent to England. These years of Henry's minor- 
ity were a period of quiet national growth, of awakening 
political consciousness, of spiritual and moral regeneration; 
to priest and layman alike it was a time of training for the 
work to come. 

In the thirteenth century the political power of the The Church, 
papacy was boundless, but secular interests had been se- 
cured at the expense of spiritual influence, and men were 
turning away from a Church controlled by worldly am- 
bitions and considerations of material advantage. In 
England resistance to the authority of a political Church 
was strengthened by the national hostility to papal inter- 
ference. "The pope has no part in secular matters," 
was the defiant answer of London to the interdict of 
Honorius. Nor was the condition of the English clergy 
more satisfactory. Despite the part they had taken in 
the struggle with John, they no longer commanded the 
respect of the people ; political activity could not make 
amends for the lack of spirituality which marked both 
monk and priest. 

To recall the clergy to its work, to bring men again into The Friars. 
the fold of the Church, was the aim of the two great orders 
that suddenly sprang into existence at about the beginning 



96 The Groivth of the English Nation. 

of the century. Inspired with fiery zeal and tireless en- 
thusiasm, the followers of the fierce Castilian Dominic and 
the saintly Francis d'Assisi wandered through Europe, 
attacking the corruptness of the clergy, combating the 
heresies of the age, seeking to reclaim the poor and out- 
cast. They turned to the towns, neglected by the older 
orders, and there in the thick of the crowd, in market 
place and fair, they preached the way of life in words that 
the common people could understand, driving home each 
truth with apt anecdote and illustration drawn from the 
world of nature or from the daily lives 
of those to whom they spoke. The 
Black Friars, as the disciples of Dom- 
inic were called, reached England in 
1221, and a few years later they were 
followed by the Gray Friars, or Fran- 
ciscans. Their coming worked a revo- 
A Friar. lution in the life of the nation. The 

indifference of the laity and the hostility of the clergy 
were not proof against their ardor and devotion ; they 
aroused the Church to a new sense of its duties, and stirred 
the hearts of the people to a higher, more vigorous life. 
Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, writing of the friars to 
Pope Gregory, said : " O that your holiness could see how 
devoutly the people run to confess their sins, how much 
profit the clergy and monks take from imitation of them." 

Less satisfactory were the results of their influence upon 
The Friars and , , , 

the Univer- the intellectual life that centered in the universities. At 

first, with rigid interpretation of their vow of poverty, 

they denied themselves all books. " I am your breviary, I 

am your breviary v " was the answer of Francis to a request 

for a psalter. But the tremendous interest aroused by their 

popular, dramatic preaching forced them to the study of 

theology, and within a short time they were firmly estab- 




Struggle for the Charter, 



97 



Their political 



lished at Oxford. Under the inspiration of their presence 
the schools were crowded with eager thousands, but the 
free spirit of the last century no longer ruled, the interest 
in science and literature died out before the irresistible bent 
of the time toward scholastic theology. Roger Bacon, first 
of English scientists, and last and greatest representative of 
the wider culture of the preceding century, bears witness in 
his writings to the changed temper of his University of Ox- 
ford. For forty years he labored to arouse men to an inter- 
est in the wide world of knowledge outside the narrow 
scholastic bounds, and in the end he was, as he himself 
wrote, "unheard, forgotten, buried." 

Under the influence of the schoolmen, the intellectual 
life of the nation became narrow and unproductive, but teachin s s - 
the effect of their teachings on the political thought of 
the time was strong and invigorating. Their sympathies 
were with the people, and in lecture and open air sermon 
they developed a 
theory of govern- 
ment which made 
short work with 
the claims of the 
king to the un- 
questioning obe- 
dience of his sub- 
jects. "All things 
are lawful to the 

king for the government of his realm, but nothing is law- 
ful to him for its destruction." " Let the community of 
the realm advise, and let it be' known what the generality 
to whom their laws are best known, think on the matter." 
" It concerns the community to see what sort of men 
ought justly to be chosen for the weal of the realm." 
With such words as these they roused their hearers to a 




Ancient "Wrestling. 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



The misrule 
of Henry. 



just sense of the duties of the king and the rights of the 
nation, and under their inspiration town and university 
stood firm in support of the cause of freedom in the com- 
ing struggle with the crown. The contest with royal mis- 
rule, which filled the later years of Henry's reign, is called 
the Barons' War, but it was the consciousness that behind 
them stood a nation that nerved the barons to rise against 
the king. 

In 1227, Henry declared himself of age, and from this 
time his character tells upon the events of the period. 
Deeply religious, moral, refined, he had few of the vices of 
his father, but, on the other hand, he had little of the 
force and political capacity that had marked his house 
heretofore. Vacillating and weak, he showed himself 
throughout his reign incapable of either fulfilling the 
wishes of his subjects or carrying out a vigorous policy of 
his own. His rule was characterized by misgovernment 
at home and inefficiency abroad. To restore the absolute 
power of the crown he turned his ministers out of office, 
filling their places with clerks or men dependent upon 
himself. Again the nation groaned under the rule of 
foreigners, relatives or favorites of the king. In their 
hands were placed the royal castles and the high offices, 
the defense and administration of the realm, on them 




Bowling. Thirteenth Century. 



Struggle for the Charter. 



99 



was squandered one sixth the royal revenue. Extravagant 
and wasteful, the king was ever in need and ever demand- 
ing supplies, and his debts amounted to more than four 
times his annual income. Every expedient to fill the 
treasury was now used. Offices were sold, loans were 
wrung from the great nobles, clergy and laity alike were 
called upon for new and burdensome supplies. The weight 
of taxation was increased by the king's foreign expeditions. 
An attempt to recover Poitou ended only in failure and 
disgrace, and renewed demands for aid. The national 
pride was outraged, the national purse depleted. 

But not by the king alone was the unhappy realm plun- The Pope 
dered and pillaged. Ever since the time of John, the pope and En s land - 
had looked upon England as a vassal 
kingdom bound to supply the needs of 
the papal see. Large sums were ex- 
acted from the clergy, and many of the 
best livings of the Church were be- 
stowed on Italians. In 1252, Grosseteste 
declared that the pope's nominees drew 
from the realm revenues three times as 
great as the royal income. Clergy and 
laity alike resisted the spoliations of 
Rome, and appealed to the king for 
protection, but in vain ; both devout- 
ness and personal gratitude bound 
Henry to the pope. Self-interest, too, 
led him to connive at the papal ex- 
actions in return for papal support in 
his dealings with his subjects. 

Throughout the whole trying time 
the murmuring grew louder ; the de- 
mand for supplies was sometimes met Henry ill. 
by angry expostulations. On one occasion the council de- 

, L.ofC. 




100 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Discontent of 
the nation. 



Simon de 
Montfort. 



clared in words that sum up the long list of grievances "that 
it would be unworthy of them and injurious, to allow a king 
who was so easily led astray, who had never repulsed nor 
frightened even the least of the enemies of his kingdom, 
who had never extended the borders of his realm, but had 
contracted it and brought it under the rule of foreigners, to 
so often extort so much money from them, his natural sub- 
jects, as though they were slaves of the lowest degree." 
Over and over again they attempted to bind the king 
through renewals of the Charter purchased at a heavy 
price, but in vain. " The king breaks everything, the laws, 
his good faith, and his promises," wrote Matthew Paris, last 
of the monastic historians. The council, now beginning 
to be known as Parliament, acting in the spirit of the 
Charter, endeavored to put a check on royal exactions, and 
on one occasion refused the request for a subsidy. In 1244 
an attempt was made to secure the appointment of officials 
to be held responsible to Parliament, and to act in all ad- 
ministrative matters. The innovation was too great to find 
ready acceptance, but it indicated the advance the nation 
was making in the conception of self-government. Still 
more important was the appearance in the great council 
in 1254 of knights of the shire, representative men, sum- 
moned to report on the amount of aid which the shires 
were willing to give. Little apparently was achieved, and 
yet throughout these dreary years, marked only by greed 
unsatisfied, by wrongs unredressed, the form and spirit 
of constitutional rule were taking shape. Slowly men were 
learning the identity of national interest, still more slowly 
the need of united national action. That action was so 
long delayed, was due in part to a certain apathy in the 
nation, but still more to lack of a leader. 

Among the swarm of hated foreigners was a man 
who w r as soon to stand forth as the chief opponent of 



Struggle for the Charter. 101 

Henry and his misrule. Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leices- 
ter and brother-in-law of the king, was Norman by birth 
and training. At first he was scarcely distinguishable 
among the foreign favorites at the court, but by 1244 he had 
ranged himself definitely on the side of the baronial party. 
During the years that followed he was much abroad on 
public business. In 1253 he returned to England and at 
once placed himself at the head of the English baronage. 
It is not easy to understand the true character of Simon de 
Montfort, nor to mark the steps by which the foreign favor- 
ite was transformed into the English patriot. Even to the 
men of his own time his character and career seemed full of 
contradictions. Generous and high-spirited, he was also 
overbearing and impatient of opposition. Firm and constant 
in his purpose and loyalty, it is yet difficult to free him from 
the reproach of ambition. But whatever his faults, he gave 
England the guidance and inspiration she needed, and ad- 
vanced her far on the road toward constitutional freedom. 

In 1258 matters came to a crisis. Misled by foolish _. . . 

The Provisions 
ambition, Henry had consented to become the tool of the of Oxford. 

pope in his quarrels with the House of Hohenstaufen, and 
had pledged England to repay the sums necessary for 
carrying on the war. The patience of the country was at 
last exhausted, and the king's demands for aid were met 
by open revolt. Under the lead of Leicester, the barons 
appeared in arms before the king and demanded the ap- 
pointment of a committee to carry out a work of reform. 
Unable to resist, Henry conceded all that was asked, and 
with his son Edward swore to observe the articles drawn 
up by the barons in the Parliament of Oxford. By the 
new scheme the government was taken out of the hands of 
the king and given to three committees made up of barons. 
It was an awkward and cumbersome device, sure to break 
down of its own weight. 



102 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



The Barons' 
War. 



The Parlia- 
ment of 1265. 



For seven years longer the contest continued. A breach 
soon appeared between Leicester and the majority of the 
barons. They feared his ambition and he accused them 
of treachery, "With such feeble and faithless men I 
care not to have aught to do ! " Henry was not slow 
to take advantage of the dissensions among his assailants, 
and in 1261 he induced the pope to absolve him from his 
oath. His defiance of their control at once led the barons 
to put aside their differences, and against their united 
front the king could make no stand. But with success 
the old distrust of Simon revived, and at last, in utter 
weariness, all agreed to refer the question to St. Louis 
of France. Just and wise as he was, Louis was yet a king 
and human, and his decision given in 1264 was entirely in 
favor of the crown. The barons at once rose in resistance, 
the towns and universities came to their aid, and the clergy 
were on their side. At Lewes the two forces met, Henry 
and Edward were taken prisoners, and the royalists were 
completely defeated. During the next year Leicester ruled 
in the king's name, but his path was beset with difficulties, 
since there were few among the baronage on whom he 
could rely. To strengthen his position he took the step 
that has brought lasting honor upon his name. Turning to 
the people, he summoned two knights of every shire and 
with them two burgesses from every borough. Knights 
and burgesses had long met in the county court to consider 
their common interests ; now for the first time they sat side 
by side with barons and bishops in tbe national council. 
It was the last despairing effort of the great earl. Already 
his government was giving way ; the hostility of the pope, 
the jealousy of the baronage, the loyalty of the nation, had 
united to undermine his power. Within a few weeks the 
country was again at war. At Evesham on the Welsh 
border the rival forces met. Simon watched the advance of 



Struggle for the Charter. 



103 



the loyalists under the lead of Prince Edward. "By the 
arm of St. James they come on cunningly. Yet have they 
not taught themselves that order of battle, but have learnt 
it of me." The end was not slow to come ; one by one the 
comrades of the great earl were shot down. " If he died 
they had no will to live." At last he, too, fell, fighting 
bravely. For a moment it seemed as though the cause 
of freedom was lost, as though all that Simon de Montfort 
had struggled for was of no avail. But another stood 
ready to carry on his work. Something more than the art 
of w T ar Simon had taught to the man who conquered him 
at Evesham. What he had failed to do, another, acting 
from the vantage ground of the throne, was to carry through 
to a glorious fulfillment. 

EDWARD I. 

With the death of Henry III. ended the days of foreign 
kingship. English in name and English at heart, Edward 
I. stands out as a truly 
national king. A man of 
action, thoroughly in ear- 
nest, and convinced of the 
righteousness of his pur- 
pose, he was often high- 
handed and impatient of 
opposition, but he was 
generous and conscien- 
tious, and not without 
reason were the words 
" Keep troth " inscribed 
upon his tomb. 




Coronation of Edward I. 
Initial Letter. 



From an 



Edward, like Henry II., came to the throne with a clear 

New legis- 
understanding of the task before him. Creative work was lation. 

accomplished, the time for definition had begun. Edward 

originated little that was new, but he worked out and 



104 The Groivth of the English Nation. 

adapted the materials that lay ready at hand. It was an 
age of lawyers and law-making, and Edward in this typi- 
fied his time. He developed the judicial system along the 
lines laid down by Henry II., dividing the Court of the 
King's Bench into three separate tribunals, each with its 
own judges. By the Statute of Winchester he revived and 
reorganized the old institutions of national police and 
national defense. Every man was forced to hold himself 
ready to serve the king at home, and every district was 
made responsible for crimes committed within its bounds. 
" If any will not obey the arrest," so runs the statute, 
" the officers shall levy the hue and cry upon them, and 
such as keep the watch shall follow with hue and cry with 
all the town and the towns near and so hue and cry shall 




Sword Play. Thirteenth Century. 

be made from town to town until that they be taken and 
delivered to the sheriff." Another provision throws light 
on the state of the country: "And further it is com- 
manded that highways leading from one market town to 
another shall be enlarged so that there be neither dyke, 
tree, nor bush whereby a man may lurk to do hurt within 
two hundred foot of the one side and two hundred foot on 
the other side of the way." 
Conquest of From his congenial task of legislation Edward was 

wales. drawn by the revolt of Wales in 1282. Into the mountain 

fastnesses of the Welsh country, English arms and Eng- 
lish influence had never penetrated. Divided into clans, 



Struggle for Hie Charter. 



105 




Heralds. 



the national spirit appeared only in resistance to the Eng- 
lish rule, the love of freedom showed itself only in hatred 
of law and order. Lawless and unsubdued, the Welsh 
were a constant men- 
ace to the peace of 
England. Every out- 
break was sure of 
their assistance, 
every rebel found a 
refuge among them. 
It was plain there 
could be no hope of 
tranquillity until the 
country was subdued 
and incorporated 
with England. The 
conquest was a national act, and Edward accomplished it 
in a national way, appealing to the people for support in 
two provincial councils called at York and Northampton. 
The war was successful, Llewellyn, the Celtic leader, fell 
on the banks of the Wye and with him ended Welsh in- 
dependence. 

Less defensible was Edward's action with regard to 
another question to which he now turned his attention. 
For centuries the relations between England and Scotland 
had been a subject of dispute. Relying on some vague 
tradition of the tenth century, the southern kingdom had 
always asserted its claim to overlordship, but the northern 
kingdom had as steadily denied it. Since the time of 
Henry I. the question had dropped out of sight, but in 
1290 the matter was revived by the death of the Maid of 
Norway, the last of the direct royal line. At once a horde 
of claimants appeared. Perplexed, the Scotch barons 
turned to Edward for advice, but he refused to act unless 



The Scotch 
succession. 



106 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



The Model 
Parliament. 



Two knights 
from each of 
37 shires ; two 
burgesses from 
each of 162 
chartered 
boroughs. 

The lower 
clergy soon 
ceased to send 
representa- 
tives. 



his overlordsbip was recognized. To this the barons finally 
agreed, though the Scotch commons refused their assent. 
His claims once accepted, Edward acted with fairness and 
wisdom, giving his decision finally in favor of John Balliol. 
In 1293, Edward's greatness was at its height, his su- 
premacy was acknowledged throughout the island, the 
country was at peace at home and abroad. Nowhere was 
there a sign that the crisis of his reign was impending. 
And yet within a few years the people had risen against 
the king, Wales and Scotland were in open revolt, and 
Gascony, the last of Henry the Second's continental pos- 
sessions, was in the hands of the French. Philip of 
France, on the alert to seize any advantage, saw in the 
smouldering disaffection of the Scotch the chance of em- 
barrassing Edward. By assurances of aid he precipitated 
the inevitable outbreak in the northern kingdom. Edward 
at once prepared to defend his rights and turned to the 
nation for aid. Anxious to avoid the arbitrary measures of 
his father's rule, he had repeatedly consulted his subjects 
in time of need, and now in his distress he called to- 
gether men of every class, recognizing their right to act 
in words drawn from the Roman law, " What touches all 
must be agreed to by all." Bishops and barons were sum- 
moned to meet with representatives of the people, knights 
from the shires, and burgesses from the boroughs; the lower 
clergy also were represented. The calling of the Parliament 
of 1295 marks a turning-point in English history. From that 
day to this the form of the national council has remained 
practically unchanged, its place in the government scarcely 
questioned. " It was the greatest work of Edward's life to 
make a permanent and ordinary part of the machinery 
of the English government what in his father's time had 
been but the temporary expedient of a needy tax-gatherer, 
or the last despairing effort of a revolutionary partisan." 



Struggle for the Charter, 



107 



The next two years were full of difficulties that tested to 
the utmost the constancy of the king and the forbearance 
of his subjects. Across the Channel the French were gain- 
ing ground, and at home discontent was rife. The 
burden of taxation was great, Edward's measures bore 
heavily on the barons, even his efforts to enforce order met 
with opposition. The Church especially had suffered from 
his exactions. " The royal officers spared neither monk 
nor priest : they broke open every money-chest : they 
even ransacked the towers and belfries of the churches." 
In 1296 the Church relying on papal support refused an confirmation of 
aid demanded by the king. In retaliation, Edward at theCharters - 
once outlawed the clergy, and soon brought them to 
terms ; but the delay had led him to a step which at once 
put him in the wrong. On more than one occasion the 
king had evaded the demands 
of the barons by making terms 
with the merchants. Now in 
his need he raised the export 
duty on wool to six times its 
former amount. The barons 
at once prepared to resist, and 
occasion was given them in 
Edward's demand that they 
should lead the force to Flan- 
ders. This they refused to do. 
"By God, Sir Earl," stormed 
Edward to one of the leaders, 

"you shall either go or hang." " By that same oath, Sir 
King, I will neither go nor hang," was the defiant answer. 
The meeting broke up in disorder, and Edward found that he 
had gone too far ; townsfolk and barons, laity and clergy, 
were united against him, and with what grace he could mus- 
ter he yielded to the demand of the barons that he should 




Civil Costume of the Reign of 
Edward I. 



Scotland. 



108 The Oroivth of the English Nation. 

sign the Charter with additional articles limiting still more 
the royal power of taxation. By this act the king bound 
himself never again to take " aids, tasks, and prizes, but by 
the common assent of the realm," nor to impose on wool a 
heavy custom or "maletot" without the same consent. 
The confirmation of the Charter stands as a landmark 
in constitutional history ; in Edward's concessions was 
summed up all that had been gained since the time of John. 
War with The remaining years of Edward's reign were filled with 

the struggle with Scotland. Under the inspiration of Wal- 
«^7)i>^ lace, an outlaw knight, 

~_ / ^3 3S 7 /£/ df^^^^-v national feeling found ex- 
fifs^ c^*V %*^k lyP" P ress i° n m °pen revolt. In 

g X^^^Mfes^* 3 ^^^ 1304 Wallace was captured 
\\ /rmr^fiSli^yfe an d P u ^ to death, and for 

K ftriTrr-TiTiiTrriiiiiiTC^ the moment it seemed as 

™ though Scotland was to 

Slings of Warfare. ghare the fortune of Wales; 

but though defeated, the Scotch were yet unconquered, and 
under the lead of Robert Bruce again took up arms. The 
issue was still unsettled when in 1307 Edward died near 
Carlisle on his way northward. For a few years longer the 
struggle went on, but where Edward I. had failed, little 
could be hoped from his son ; step by step the English lost 
ground, and at last, in 1314, in the hard-fought battle of 
Bannockburn, the invading army met with complete de- 
feat, and Scotch independence was achieved. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Rise of the Commons. 



Illustrative Readings. 
The Boy's Froissart. 
John Wyclif; Sergeant. Heroes 

of the Nation Series. 
Canterbury Tales : Chaucer. 
Dream of John Ball ; Morris. 
Edward II. ; Marlowe. 
Richard II.; Shakespeare. 
The King's Tragedy; Rossetti. 
The Fair Maid of Perth ; Scott. 
Important Dates. 
Reign of Edward II., 1307-1327. 
1311, The Ordinances. 
1314, Battle of Bannockburn. 

Loss of Scotland. 
1322, Downfall of Lancaster. 

Genealogical Table. 



1327, Deposition of Edward II. 
Reign of Edward III., 1327-1377. 
1336, Outbreak of the Hundred 
Years' War, 1336-1347; 1354- 
1360 ; 1368-1375 ; 1378-1389. 
1349, The Black Death. 
1351, The first Statute of Labor- 
ers. 
1376, The Good Parliament. 
Reign of Richard II., 1377-1399. 
1381, The Peasant Revolt. 
1384, Death of Wyclif. 
1386, The Commission of Re- 
form. 
1397, The King's coup d'etat. 
1399, Deposition of Richard II. 



HENRY III. 



Edward I., 1274-1307. 
I 
Edward II., 1307-1327. 

Edward III., 1327-1377. 



Edmund, 

| Earl of Lancaster. 
Thomas, 

Earl of Lancaster, 
beheaded 1322. 



Edward, 

the Black Prince. 



Lionel John of Gaunt, 
Duke of Duke of 
Clarence. Lancaster. 



Edmund, Thomas, 
Duke of Duke of 

York. Gloucester. 



Richard II., Phihppa Henry IV., 

1377-1399. | 1399-1*413. 

Roger Mortimer, 

Earl of March. 

During the course of the fourteenth century, great and 
momentous changes were wrought out in the character 
and constitution of the English nation. The elements of 
progress which were gathering force during the thirteenth 
century reached a climax of development in the fourteenth. 
A marked invigoration of the national character, in which 

109 



110 The Oroivth of the English Nation. 

the whole people, high and low, rich and poor, had part, 
distinguishes the period. Roused to a consciousness of 
opportunity, the nation sought to attain a larger and 
freer life. The cruelties of the Conquest, the miseries 
of civil war, were forgotten in that glad sense of re- 
newed strength which makes the fourteenth century seem 
the springtime of the English race. The buoyant aspira- 
tion of the people found expression in diverse ways. 
Thought and language responded to its call and a national 
literature arose. The religious instinct was awakened and a 
purer faith rejected the authority of a degenerate Church. 
Restless under restraint, men strove to cast aside the bur- 
dens imposed by lord and king, seeking to win industrial 
advancement and political freedom. In comparison with 
these mighty aspirations of the people, the enterprises of 
kings, whether in war or in court intrigue, seem but petty 
affairs and of slight consequence ; nevertheless, the sov- 
ereign was an influential personage. His arbitrary will 
might do much to further or hinder the welfare of the 
nation. 

CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 

The remarkable progress toward constitutional govern- 
ment during this period is a direct consequence of the 
Taxation. financial necessities of the crown. Military expenses con- 

stituted the most serious item in the royal debit account. 
The French wars dragged their weary length through the 
century and the burden imposed upon the nation became 
well-nigh unendurable. The cost of the several expeditions 
to France was defrayed by grants voted in Parliament with 
little grumbling, for the people were ready to pay taxes 
where the glory of the English name was at stake ; but the 
expenses of the royal household were not so cheerfully 
met. Men argued that the king should " live of his own," 
that his court should be maintained out of the revenue 



Rise of the Commons. Ill 

from the royal demesnes. Now the royal estates had been 
considerably reduced by sale and gift since the Conqueror's 
day, so that the private revenue of the crown had fallen off 
at the same time that the habits of the sovereign had waxed 
more luxurious. The ordinary income of the king, that 
from the royal demesnes and legitimate aids and customs, 
was probably at this time about £65,000. Of this sum, until the six- 
from £10,000 to £15,000 was spent upon the royal house- alf monly tUry 
hold, the rest being devoted to the maintenance of the be 'muiupi'fed 
king's castles, the army, the navy, and the civil service. nmte n tne esU " 
Fifteen thousand pounds was perhaps not an extravagant mone^of ' m 
sum to allow for keeping vip an establishment that must to " da y- 
compare favorably with the courts of continental mon- 
archs, but the people fretted under the burden, and a 
number of clumsy efforts were made to control the royal 
expenditure. The Charter confirmed in 1297 bound the 
king to levy no extraordinary taxes " without the common 
consent of the realm and to the common profit thereof." 
Edward I. loyally observed the limitations so imposed, but 
his successors were less scrupulous. The king's lawyers 
were not slow to find means of evading the Charter, and 
the Parliamentary records of the period abound in protests 
against illegal taxation. Exorbitant sums were exacted 
from the royal demesnes, where the people, being imme- 
diate dependents of the crown, could make no effective 
resistance ; new customs duties were imposed by special 
arrangement with the merchants (export duties on wool 
and import duties on wine and other luxuries) ; but the 
favorite device of a needy monarch was to borrow the 
money he could not raise by taxation. There was no lack 
of opportunity. The Jewish money-lenders, the never- 
failing resource of preceding kings, had been banished from 
England in 1290 ; but there were Italian bankers and 
Flemish merchants who might always be relied on to 



112 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Purveyance. 



Edward II. 
1307-1327. 



accommodate a royal spendthrift, and the pope himself 
was not averse to loaning money on good security. These 
debts were of course a charge on future revenue and must 
eventually be paid by the nation. Money was not unfre- 
quently extorted from wealthy English prelates and the 
prosperous towns of the realm, on the pretense of repay- 
ment, but subjects gave with a bad grace since the royal 
creditor had a poor memory for such obligations and could 
not safely be pressed. The most vexatious resource, and 
that which roused deepest animosity among the people, 
was the so-called right of purveyance. On the magnificent 
royal progresses through the realm, the king's officers pro- 
vided for the needs of his household at the expense of the 
inhabitants. Food and shelter were demanded at the 
lowest prices and with no security for payment. The 
carts and horses, even the personal services of the peasants, 
were called into requisition, not merely for the king's use, 
but at the convenience of any one of the 
royal officers who dared ask them in the 
king's name. This abuse of power was fre- 
quently protested, and reform was no less 
frequently promised, but it was a privilege 
dear to the heart of royalty and was not 
readily relinquished. The practice was well 
calculated to bring home to the understand- 
ing of the common people the inconveniences 
of tyranny. 

These questionable prerogatives of the 
crown were enlarged to dangerous pro- 
portions by the foolish and incompetent 
son of the great Edward. Edward II. was not so much 
despotic as self-willed and indulgent. He looked upon 
his realm as a fair pasture wherein he and his friends 
might fatten at their will. The prime favorite was Piers 




Rise of the Commons. 113 

Gaveston, a needy French courtier, brilliant and lovable 
even at this distance of time and space, a loyal friend but a 
dangerous adviser. For this petted gallant, great estates 
were carved from the royal demesne. He was made Earl 
of Cornwall, and when the king went over sea to bring 
home his French bride, Gaveston was appointed regent of 
the realm. The gay Gascon waxed fat and kicked. He 
flung jibes at the great English lords, reck- 
less of their sullen wrath. In 1310 a con- 
vention of the barons, under the lead of 
Thomas of Lancaster, the king's cousin, pre- 
sented a solemn protest. They complained 
that the people were burdened by heavy 
and illegal taxes, while the kingdom lay 
undefended, the money that should have 
been devoted to the Scotch war being wasted 
on unworthy favorites. The government 
was placed in commission for a year, twenty- FemaieCostume. 
one Lords Ordainers being appointed to act ward II. 
for the king, and a series of ordinances was drawn up which The Lords 
Edward was forced to confirm. Gaveston was banished 1310. 
from the realm, together with the Italian bankers who had 
lent their aid to the royal extravagance. The king was 
forbidden to alienate the royal demesne and was told that 
he must hereafter "live of his own." No unusual taxes 
were to be levied, nor could the king raise an army, go to k " ng ^ as p Ut 
war, or quit the realm without consent of the barons. aneeof£io W 
Parliament was to be convened at least once a year to con- a ay ' 
sider such requests from the king. The Ordinances gave 
the barons effective control of the government, but the 
untrammeled rule of the great lords proved to be no less 
despotic than that of the crown. When, a few years later, 
the king, under the guidance of his new favorites, the 
Dispensers, w r as able to accomplish the ruin of Lan- 




114 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Deposition 
of Edward II. 
1327. 



caster, England rejoiced at his fall. The Dispensers had 
the good sense to see that the king's best security against 
any future effort of the barons was the support of the 
people. The Parliament of 1322, which repealed the Or- 
dinances, decreed that all matters concerning the king and 
the realm must be enacted in full Parliament with the 
consent of the " prelates, earls, and barons, and the com- 
monalty of the realm." 

Such a declaration, if accepted in its full import by the 
king, might have furnished the basis of a successful reign ; 
but Edward's foolish fondness for his favorites had raised 
up foes In his own household. His Queen, Isabel, resolving 
to avenge the slights put upon her, fled with her paramour, 
Roger Mortimer, to France. Prince Edward joined her 
there, and the three concerted rebellion. Landing on the 
English coast in 1326, they were joined by the leading 
barons. London declared for the prince, the Dispensers 
were hanged, and a full Parliament was convened at West- 
minster where the helpless king was 
forced to abdicate, young Edward being 
proclaimed king in his stead. The prin- 
cipal actors in this poor tragedy were, it 
is true, inspired by selfish and unworthy 
motives, and hardly deserved the success 
they achieved ; but they wrought better 
than they knew. In summoning the 
nation to their aid, in appealing to Par- 
liament to displace an unworthy king, 
they acknowledged in the national as- 
sembly an authority superior to mon- 
archy. From this time Parliament was 
recognized as the dominant power in the realm. "Without 
the consent of the assembled estates, no tax could be levied, 
no law passed. Kings and courtiers might terrify or cajole 




Female Costume 
Time of Ed- 
ward II. 



Rise of the Commons. 115 

the people's representatives into compliance with their 
will, but they must secure at least the show of popular 
sanction. 

Coming to the throne under such conditions, Edward III. Edward m. 
could not consistently dispute the authority of the national 
Parliament. Indeed he was not the man to enter into a 
constitutional contest. The third Edward was by instinct 
a general, not a statesman, and his energies were absorbed 
in the long war with France. So long as Parliament sanc- 
tioned his military enterprises and voted supplies for his 
army, he was ready to make any concessions required of 
him. Of the continental dominions of Henry II., Aquitaine 
only remained, and this fair province was wavering in her 
allegiance and inclined to admit the suzerainty of the 
French king. Edward III. was ambitious to restore the 
military prestige of his race and entered thoughtlessly into 
the project of conquest which ultimately cost England 
dear. Grounds of quarrel were not lacking. The aggres- 
sions of Philip VI. in Aquitaine, his interference in Scot- Th French 
land, his demand that Edward should make good the wars - 
damage done to French merchants by English sailors in 
the Channel — all these were serious grievances, but they did 
not justify Edward's pretensions to the French crown. His 
claim* was based on the fact that he was, through his 



♦Claim of Edward III. to the French crown. 

Philip III., the Bold, 1270-1285. 

! 

Philip IV., the Fair, 1285-1314. Charles of Valois. 

I i 

I I I I I 

Louis X., Philip V., Charles IV., Isabel, Philip VI., 

1314-1316. the Long, the Fair, m. Ed. II. 1328-1350. 

| 1316-1322. 1322-1328. of England. I 

John I., | 

1316. Edward III. John II., 

the Good, 
1*50-1364. 

Charles V. 



116 The Growth of the English Nation. 

mother, Isabel, the only surviving grandchild of Philip the 
Fair, while Philip VI. was but the son of a younger 
branch. The French court repudiated the claim, citing the 
Salic law to prove that the succession could not be claimed 
through a woman. But this was a mere quibble of the 
lawyers. The essential right of Philip, and that which 
Joan of Arc urged for his successor one hundred years later, 
was that the French people should be ruled by a French 
king. In contrast to this fundamental right of a nation to 
its own, the arguments of jurists, pro and con, are mere 
"sound and fury, signifying nothing." 
Victory was at first on the side of England. Edward 
commanded a loyal army be- 
cause he had a united people 
and a well-filled treasury at his 
back. Philip VI., on the other 
hand, was but feudal lord of 
France. His force was made 
up of mounted knights, the un- 
ruly retainers of his great vas- 
sals. Discipline, generalship, was out of the question. 
The battlefield of Crecy bears witness to the weakness 
of a feudal force when brought face to face with national 
troops. The bulk of the English army was made up of 
foot-soldiers, stout yeoman archers, who steadily stood 
their ground, while the bad management and disorder 
of the French were indescribable. The hero of the French 
wars was the eldest son of King Edward, "the Black 
Prince." Nothing more clearly indicates how distorted 
were the moral ideals of the age than this universal 
admiration of Prince Edward. That he was a brilliant 
and daring warrior was abundantly proved at Crecy and 
Poitiers ; but personal courage was offset by a cruelty and 
greed that rendered him the prince of plunderers. Rich 




Rise of the Commons. 117 

booty was wrung from the unhappy people only to be 
spent in wasteful revel. The fairest districts of France 
were devastated to no military end, and the country re- 
duced to a state of anarchy. It was the vice of the times. 
Medieval chivalry imposed a high code of honor upon its 
devotees, but their superfine courtesy did not extend be- 
yond their own class. Peasants and burghers were thought 
creatures of another clay. Froissart lauds the generosity 
of the Black Prince when, after Poitiers, he rewards the 




Cannon used at Crecy. 

valiant knight who led the fray with a pension of six 
hundred marks, and serves the captured King John at a 
sumptuous supper, standing by his side with deferential 
solicitude. The princely chronicler ignores the fact that 
the treasure dispensed in such royal fashion was wrested 
from starving peasants. 

After years of this wasteful and inhuman warfare, Prince 
Edward returned home laden with booty, but broken in 
body and spirit. The best blood of England had been 
spilled on the fields of France, but the country was no 
nearer submission than when the war began. By the 
Peace of Bretigny, the king surrendered his claim to the 
French crown, and, in 1375, a truce was agreed upon which 
left the English in possession of no French territory but 
the seaports Calais, Cherbourg, Brest, Bordeaux, and Bay- 
onne. 

The long and costly war was not merely fruitless ; it was 
demoralizing. It is true that bravery and knightly honor 




118 The Groivth of the English Nation. 

were fostered by these years of desperate adventure, but the 
same conditions bred brutality and avarice. Princes and 
barons returned to England to spend in reckless extrava- 
gance the wealth amassed in the French campaigns. 
Constitutional Disastrous as were the French wars, they yet served one 
itoncil wars. j useful purpose. They furnished the 

opportunity for constitutional progress. 
Great armies could not be maintained 
without frequent appeals for money, 
and the Parliaments of this period 
were not slow to utilize such occasions 
for extorting concessions from the 
king. Grants were only voted in return 
A Mounted Knight. for redress of grievances, and the king 
was forced to surrender, one after another, the most cher- 
ished prerogatives of the crown . Exclusive right of taxation 
was accorded to Parliament, together with the power to 
specify the object to which the supply should be devoted. 
The royal accounts were examined by auditors appointed by 
Parliament, and the king's ministers were held responsible 
to the representatives of the people. These were great and 
important concessions. They secured to the Parliament of 
the fourteenth century authority almost coextensive with 
that exercised by the House of Commons to-day. 
Organization of Forty-eight Parliaments were convened in the fifty years 
of Edward III.'s reign, and the mass of business consid- 
ered rendered effective organization necessary. The 
methods of procedure then determined upon are still ob- 
served, curious and antiquated though many of them 
seem. By 1343 the representatives of the several estates 
had established the custom of meeting in two distinct 
assemblies, the House of Lords and the House of Com- 
mons. In the House of Lords, the lineal descendant of 
the Great Council, sat some fifty barons and as many great 



Mise of the Commons. 119 

ecclesiastics who together represented the interests of a 
small fraction of the English nation, the privileged orders. 
Knights and burgesses originally sat apart as representing 
distinct estates and separate interests, but they gradually 
learned how much might be gained by alliance. The 
knight spoke for his shire, and the burgess for his borough, 
but both stood for the interests of the middle classes as 
opposed to those of the barons and clergy. Their union 
in the House of Commons was a gain to the cause of con- 




Archery. Fourteenth Century. 

stitutional development. Jointly they gathered courage 
to undertake reforms that neither estate would have ven- 
tured alone. 

The reign of Edward III., held to be so brilliant by con- 
temporary annalists, drew to a close in grief and gloom. 
The last expedition to France had been a pitiful failure, 
and England was forced to sue for peace. The Prince of 
Wales, his splendid energy exhausted, had come home to 
die. The old king was in his dotage. Ruled by his 
greedy, unscrupulous mistress, Alice Perrers, he weakly 
yielded to the clamors of the cunning parasites who fat- 
tened on the life-blood of the nation. Bribery, peculation, 
fraud, every form of corruption, was rife at court. The 
ostentatious extravagance of the upper classes showed in 
startling contrast to the misery of the people. Moreover, 
the Black Death, a mysterious pestilence that visited TheB i ack 
England in 1348 to return again and again before the close Death - 



120 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



The Good Par- 
liament. 1376. 




of the century, had swept away half the population and 
left the nation terrified and spent. The government had 
fallen into the hands of John of Gaunt, a 
younger son of Edward III., and the ablest 
of his house. He made but selfish use of his 
great power. Allying himself in political 
trickery with Alice Perrers, he winked at the 
malpractices of the court. When Parliament 
at last set about the work of reform, the great 
Duke of Lancaster was recognized as a most 
dangerous opponent. The grievances of the 
people were voiced by the House of Commons. 
Encouraged by the support of Prince Edward, 
Effi°-v of Ed- they presented a remonstrance, boldly com- 
w^stminster pl ainm g °f the extravagance and corruption 
Abbey. Q f ^ e court and denouncing the king's min- 
isters as evil counselors. At first tbe reformers carried 
everything before them. Lyons and Latimer, officers of 
the king, were accused of gigantic financial frauds, and 
solemnly impeached. Heavy fines were im- 
posed on Alice Perrers and others convicted 
of receiving bribes. A Council of Govern- 
ment was chosen, composed of men who could 
be trusted to regard the interests of the nation. 
Petitions were presented, 140 in number, pro- 
testing against the maladministration of the 
government. They enumerated the griev- 
ances that had been accumulating since the 
beginning of the reign. The old king bent 
his head before this storm of indignation and 

granted all that was asked of him, but Lan- Female Cos- 

tume. Time 
caster bided his time. The death of Prince of Edward ill. 

Edward that same year struck the ground from under the 

feet of the reform party. His son Richard was but a child 




Rise of the Commons. 121 

of ten years and John of Gaunt aspired to the succession. 
Hardly was the Good Parliament dissolved when its acts 
were arbitrarily revoked ; Alice Perrers, Latimer, and 
Lyons were recalled, and the Parliamentary leaders pun- 
ished. Lancaster convened a Parliament the following 
spring, having first looked well to it that the representa- 
tives sent to the House of Commons should be such as 
would serve his purpose. From an assembly so packed, no 
resistance was to be feared, and the necessary supplies were 
granted without remonstrance. So the work of the Good 
Parliament was undone because there was not in the Lower 
House sufficient staying power for persistent opposition. 

Throughout the reign of Richard II. , the Commons RichardII 
played but a minor part in the government. A council of 1377 - 1399 - 
regency was immediately appointed with John of Gaunt 
at its head. His administration was far from brilliant. The 
war with France was renewed, but carried on with so little 
energy that Ghent and Flanders passed into French control, 
and the Flemish trade, a rich source of profit, was lost to 
England. The French grew so bold as to undertake inva- 
sion in their turn. A force was landed in the Isle of Wight 
and with difficulty repulsed. The formidable insurrection 
of the people, which broke out in 1381, was in its political 
aspects a protest against the misgovernment of Lancaster. 

The inconstant Gaunt withdrew in 1386, to follow a wild 
goose chase in pursuit of the Spanish crown, and the gov- 
ernment came into the hands of the youngest of the king's 
uncles, the Duke of Gloucester. Hitherto Richard had 
been allowed to choose his own ministers and waste the 
royal revenues unmolested. Inquiry was now made into 
the abuses of the court, and a council of reform was intrust- 
ed with the government. The king's effort to free himself 
was successfully withstood by the Lords Appellant, and the 
"Merciless Parliament," acting at the instance of Glouces- 



122 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



The Lords 
Apellant, 
the five great 
nobles who 
brought accu- 
sation of trea- 
son against 
the king's 
counselors. 



Absolutism 
of the king. 



ter, impeached the friends and ministers of Richard and 
condemned them to death. Thus far the young king had 
seemed a submissive tool in the hands of the party in 
power ; but, in 1389, he suddenly shook off the restraint of 
the Council, announced himself of age, and took posses- 
sion of the government. For eight years Richard reigned 
in accordance with constitutional forms, but, in 1397, 
this policy was sharply reversed. Having secured a long, 
truce with France by his marriage with the daughter 
of Charles VI., the king, relieved of the embarrassment of 
foreign war, found his hands free to strike the long delayed 
blow at the Lords Appellant. One after another they were 
seized and thrown into prison. A packed Parliament voted 
their condemnation, declared the acts of the Merciless Par- 
liament void, and vested the legislative power in a perma- 
nent committee made up of twelve peers and six common- 
ers. Richard now seemed absolute. Taxes were levied 
without regard to right or usage. Men were even com- 
pelled to put their seals to blank promises to pay, which 
the king could fill up with any sum he pleased. Richard's 
enemies were thrown into prison or sent into exile without 
show of right. But the work of two centuries could not be 
so easily undone. The party of resistance found a leader 
in Henry, Duke of Hereford, son and heir of John of Gaunt. 
This prince, exiled by arbitrary decree of the king, returned 
in 1399 to claim not only his confiscated ancestral estates, 
but the crown itself. All elements of the opposition flocked 
to his standard — outraged nobles no less than rebellious 
commons. Richard, betrayed into the hands of his foes, 
was forced to resign the throne. " Your people, my Lord," 
said Lancaster, "complain that for the space of twenty 
years you have ruled them harshly ; however, if it please 
God, I will help you to rule them better." " Fair cousin," 
responded the helpless Richard, "since it pleases you, it 



Rise of the Commons. 



123 



pleases me well." The king was tried in full Parliament 
and declared to be " useless, incompetent, and altogether 
insufficient and unworthy." The grounds for deposition 
were faithlessness toward divers of the great lords, trans- 
gression of the con- 
stitutional rights of 
the nation, and the 
assertion of absolute 
sovereignty. It was 
the tragic failure of 
Edward II. repeated, 
but with a deeper 
significa nee. We 
may see a Piers Gav- 
eston in Robert de 



Deposition of 
Richard II. 

1399. 




Parliament assembled for the Deposition of 

Kichard II. From an Illustration in 

the Harleian MS., No. 1319. 



Vere and a Thomas of Lancaster in the Duke of Gloucester ; 
but Richard was a stronger man than Edward II. It is 
difficult to discern his real character and purposes in the 
partisan report given us by the friends of the rival dynasty. 
It is, however, evident that he definitely projected an 
absolute sovereignty. The victory of Lancaster may thus 
be justly regarded as the triumph of constitutional govern- 
ment. 

INTELLECTUAL REVIVAL. 

In the realm of thought even more than in that of action, 
the reinvigoration of national life made itself felt. The bar- 
ren controversies of the scholastics were cast aside. Men 
turned from the contemplation of abstruse problems of 
theology to the more vital questions of social and political 
life. Human passions, human needs, the effort to realize 
happiness in this present life — these were the absorbing inter- 
ests of literature and polemic. Under the influence of this 
new humanism, writers for the first time gave adequate 
expression to the play of thought and feeling in the world 



124 



The Oroivth of the English Nation. 



Address from 
the throne 
given in 
English for 
the first time 
in 1365. 



Geoffrey 

Chaucer. 

1340(?)-1400. 

" Detheof the 

Duchesse." 

" Parliament 

of Foules." 

"Troilusand 

Cressida." 

" Legende of 

Good 

Women." 

"Canterbury 

Tales." 



about them, and there appears for the first time in England 
a literature to which we return with something more than 
curiosity — with a vivid interest in the men and women 
portrayed. 

It is most natural that this sympathetic literary impulse 
should express itself in the speech of the people. The four- 
teenth century, indeed, witnessed the final triumph of the 
English language. Though Latin continued for some time 
yet to be spoken in the universities, English was by the 
reign of Richard II. commonly used in the lower schools. 
In the latter part of the century, the English speech was 
adopted in Parliament and in the Courts of Law. French 
was still affected by the aristocracy ; but Chaucer and 
Langland and Wyclif, the great writers of the age, made 
noble use of the native tongue. In Chaucer, the day-star of 
English poets, the effect of Norman blood and continental 
culture makes itself felt by a lightness and grace, foreign to 
the Saxon genius ; but in a certain simplicity and sincerity 
of expression, in the frank realism of his thought, in a 
wholesome aversion to the transcendental, he is wholly 
English. Chaucer's life was spent at court and in the king's 
service at home and abroad. Scholar, courtier, soldier, 
ambassador, and man of business — his was a many-sided 
experience, and his knowledge of men was wide and varied. 
That catholic sympathy which was an inherent quality of 
his genius was never chilled by the pride of worldly suc- 
cess nor embittered by disappointment. And yet the pic- 
ture Chaucer gives us of the England that he knew is 
colored by the "gracious worldliness " of the prosperous 
man of affairs who finds life much to his liking. His Can- 
terbury pilgrims ride gayly through blooming lanes to the 
music of song and bagpipe, shortening the way with merry 
tales. All is vivid light and color, buoyant mirth and 
badinage, with never a somber touch. The characteristic 



Rise of the Commons. 125 

figures of medieval English society ride in this picturesque 
cavalcade. First of the merry company appears the cour- 
teous knight who has proved his valor on many an oriental 
battlefield. Well he loves " truth and honor, freedom and 
courtesy." He and the blithe young squire who holds 
pace at his side, '' a lover and a lusty bachelor," represent 
the best fruit of medieval chivalry. The attendant yeoman, 
"clad in coat and hood of green," bearing in hand a 
"mighty bow," may well be one of those who fought at 
Crecy and Poitiers. Worthy to ride among 
the gentry, in his own estimation at least, is the 
merchant with forked beard and foreign dress, 
" boasting always the increase of his winning." 
Of the gentry, too, are the sergeant of law, 
"wary and wise," a consequential body who 
ever " seemed busier than he was," and the doc- 
tor of physic who has grown rich on the Pesti- 
lence and is dressed in scarlet and sky-blue silk 
like a great gentleman. The penniless clerk of 
Oxenford bestrides a horse as lean "as is a A youth of 
rake." Hollow-eyed and sober, clad in thread- Noble Birth - 
bare coat, it is clear at a glance that like his great prede- 
cessor, Roger Bacon, he has spent all he could beg or bor- 
row "on books and on learning." Neither office nor 
preferment awaits his unworldly service, but his eagerness 
to find and to teach the truth is better than a patent of 
nobility. A very different character is the fresh and ruddy 
franklin (free-holder) of excellent appetite, in whose hos- 
pitable hall it "snowed of meat and drink." The worthy 
vassal of a great lord, he has many times represented his 
shire in Parliament and has even served as sheriff of the 
county court. Several holy personages adorn this worship- 
ful company, the fat monk with bald head "that shines 
as any glass," an unlettered prelate, who delights in hunt- 




126 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



ing and a good table and rejects his order's discipline as 

out of date. 

" Full many a dainty horse had he In stable, 
And when he rode, men might his bridle hear 
Jingling in a whistling wind as clear, 
And eke as loud as doth the chapel bell." 

No less worldly is the prioress with her simpering smile 
and affected airs and graces, the sentimental Madame 
Eglantine, who wears a love-motto on her brooch and 
manages to give a hint of coquetry to the severe black garb 
of her order. A more arrant hypocrite than either of these 
is the friar, "wanton and merry," who sells absolution to 
his well-to-do patrons, holding that genuine penitence is 
evinced less by tears and prayers than by "giving silver 
to the poor friars." Humbler characters join in this Can- 
terbury pilgrimage ; several craftsmen dressed each in the 
spruce livery of his fraternity, thriving fellows these, good 

gild-brethren and honest 
burgesses ; a pirate with 
sunbrowned visage and 
viking beard, who sits his 
nag with a sailor's awk- 
wardness — a hard drinker 
and a hard fighter he ; a 




Practicing with the Crossbow. 



reeve (bailiff), "a slender colerik man," shrewd and 
thrifty, the dread of the tenants, who fear him as they fear 
the Pestilence ; and his fellow extortioner, the miller, a 
short, stout rascal with cunning, brutal face, from whose 
foul mouth, " as wide as is a great furnace," low jests and 
obscene tales reek forth. Their jovial peer in ribaldry is 
the good wife of Bath, a buxom dame of florid countenance, 
who ambles easily along in broad hat and scarlet hose, gar- 
rulous and grotesque. Among these lesser folk rides the 
"good man of religion," a parish priest, lowly but learned, 
and " rich in holy thought and work." He is a true shep- 




\ 



Rise of the Commons. 127 

herd, stinting himself that he may give to the needy, and 
sparing no pains or labor in the tending of his flock. 

" This noble exam pie to his sheep he gave, 
That first he wrought and afterwards he taught." 

His brother, the plowman, is a "peasant saint " who does 

his whole duty by God and his neighbor. 

" An honest workman and a good was he, 
Living in peace and perfect charity." 

It is a marvelously vivid picture, a panorama of medieval 
society, which teaches more of actual conditions than many 
a learned volume ; but it is after all a superficial view that 
Chaucer gives us. He does not 
adequately represent the forces at 
work in fourteenth century Eng- 
land. His is the eye of an artist, 
delighting in the play of light and 
shade, and overlooking the deeper 
aspects of life, the strife, the aspi- 
ration, the defeat, that make up 
the tragedy of human existence. 
He does not trouble himself with Lady in Hunting Garb - 
the why and the wherefore of folly and sin, with the prob- 
lems of evil and loss, but laughs at human foibles and 
takes pleasure in human graces with the delicate discrimi- 
nation of the connoisseur. 

Not so Langland ; the rugged inartistic lines of this poor William Lang- 
village priest bear witness to the grim life battle waged by 1332(?)-1399(?). 
j, » i ,,i.i m. ,i ,,. "Vision of 

the men of humble birth. The world was to him no gay Piers Plow- 
show where a man might look on at the play, a disinterest- 
ed spectator. Life was a stern reality where the powers of 
evil well-nigh overmastered the power that makes for 
righteousness. Chaucer could jest at the corruption of the 
clergy, the venality of the courts, the arrogance of the upper 
classes, the servile vices of the poor ; for, well-fed gentleman 



man. 



128 • The Oroivth of the English Nation. 



/ 



that he was, his individual happiness and that of his social 
order was not at stake, but to Langland, born and bred 
among the people, making their struggle and sorrow his 
own, the misery of a world out of joint was a matter of 
galling personal experience. 

In the Vision of Piers Plowman, we are shown, not a 
jocund cavalcade riding through April sunshine, but a pan- 
orama of busy toil. Wandering on Malvern Hills, bathing a 
troubled spirit in the beauty of a May morning, the poet 
sinks down in weariness by a brookside and falls asleep. He 
dreams that the world lies before him, " a fair field full of 
folk." Toward the east, standing out clear against the sun- 
light, rises a tower, which is the habitation of Truth, the 
Father and Redeemer of men. On the other hand the ground 
sinks to a deep vale where lies a dungeon, "the castle of 
care.'' Wrong dwells therein, the Father of Falsehood, the 
Tempter. In the plain between, all manner of men, the 
mean and the rich, are "working and wandering as the 
world asketh," unconscious of the influences that play upon 
them, moving them for evil or for good. Serfs toil at the 
plow, with rare intervals for pastime, painfully winning 
what their glutton lords will soon waste in revelry. Mer- 
chants buy and sell, making snug fortunes in thriving trade. 
Barons are here, and their bondsmen, burgesses and city rab- 
ble, side by side. All manner of artisans, men and women, 
ply their trades, bakers and brewers and butchers, tailors 
and tinkers and weavers of woolen and linen cloth. These 
are hardy craftsmen and well able to earn their own living; 
but one sees others, lazy louts, good for nothing but spading 
and ditching, who while away the tedium of the day's labor 
with ribald songs. Some there are who manage to live with- 
out work. These wander through the land singing gay glees 
in rich men's halls, or, feigning folly, earn many a good 
penny by tumbling aud jesting. Stout beggars, too, with 



Rise of the Commons. 129 

whining lies, entreat the alms that will be spent in drunken 
riot. Here and there in the motley throng run cooks and 
their serving boys crying " Hot pies, hot ! Nice roast pigs 
and geese ! Come and dine, come ! " while taverners stand 
at the inn-door calling out the merits of their choice drinks, 
the red wine of Gascony and the white wine of Alsace. 
Some, turning their backs upon such fleshly delights, give 
themselves to prayer and penance, hoping to "win heaven's 
bliss." A hundred or more sly fellows are hanging about, 
law sergeants, " who plead a case but for pence and pounds, 
never for love of our Lord." " Thou mightest easier meas- 
ure the mist on Malvern Hills than get a mumble from their 
mouths till they see the glint of silver." This picture of 
the world, as it looked to an honest priest, would be incom- 
plete without the pious rout of monks and friars, pilgrims 
and palmers, that go to Rome, to do honor to the saints, and 
return with "leave to lie all their life after" ; wanton her- 
mits, long-legged lubbers, who, being too lazy to work, 
wear the celibate's habit and live at their ease ; friars in 
plenty — all the four orders — preaching to the people for 
their own profit, interpreting the Scriptures to suit their 
own purposes. In the midst stands a pardoner, armed 
with a papal bull, and professing to have power to absolve 
men from falsehoods and broken vows. The ignorant peo- 
ple believe him and throng to his feet, bringing rings and 
brooches and hard-earned pennies to pay for the pope's 
indulgence. Langland pours out the vials of his wrath 
upon the monks and friars. Toward the secular clergy he 
is somewhat less severe, but he says that the parish priests 
complain that their people are too poor to support them 
" since the Pestilence time," and depicts them begging leave 
to go up to London, where they may win silver by singing 
masses for the rich in sculptured chantries. The superior 
clergy, too, desert their rural charges and flock to London 



130 The Groxvth of the English Nation. 

with the rest, hoping for some fat office in the king's em- 
ploy. 

The Vision of Piers Plowman was one of the most popular 
books of its day. Written in the rough vernacular, its allit- 
erative verse caught the ear of the people and fixed itself in 
peasant memory. Reading was still a rare accomplish- 
ment, but this poet of democracy had disciples and interpre- 




Balloou Ball. Fourteenth Century. 

ters who carried his message far and wide. Gathered about 
a tavern table or lounging on the village green, the group 
of rustics listened with short, gruff laugh while some gaunt 
clerk of Oxenford read the story of the humble Plowman, 
the Christ returned to earth, w r ho so gently teaches knight 
and cleric their duty, guiding wandering pilgrims to the 
well-nigh forgotten shrine of Truth. The seed so sown 
bore fruit in the Lollard movement and the Peasant Revolt. 

WICLIF AND THE REFORM IN RELIGION. 

This is the degenerate period of the English Church. 
Wealth and power had so far contaminated the upper 
ranks of the hierarchy that the superior clergy regarded 
themselves rather as privileged recipients of the contribu- 
tions of the faithful, than as the servants of the Church of 
Christ. The ambitious and the lazy both found holy orders 
much to their liking, and crowded into the Church and 
the monastic establishments, until they far outnumbered 
Wealth and the religious requirements of the nation. This involved a 

corruption of 

the Church heavy tax on the resources of the country. The Church 



Rise of the Commons. 131 

held fully one third of the landed property in England, 
while the income from the offerings of the people amounted 
to twice the royal revenue. 

The regular clergy were even more corrupt than the 
seculars. Contemporary literature gives abundant evidence and monas- 
that they were held in less reverence by the people. The 
friars, so zealous for reform on their first coming into 
England, had degenerated in their turn and become mere 
servile bigots and shameless mendicants. The popes, to 
whom the friars were immediately responsible, far from 
calling them to account for breach of their vows, set them 
a demoralizing example. When the spiritual Franciscans, 
endeavoring to reform their order, taught that the posses- 
sion of wealth was inconsistent with Apostolic Chris- 
tianity, they were denounced by John XXII. as heretics. 

The influence of the Church over the minds and hearts of 
the people was not strong enough to enable her to hold her 
own against the protest raised by the wakened thought of 
England. Chaucer's polished sarcasm and Langland's 
fierce denunciation were echoed by many lesser observers. 
Jests and jibes against the clergy found ready listeners in 
the hut of the peasant and at the court of the king. Yet 
the spirit of religion was not dead in England. Men knew 
and loved righteousness and pure devotion. "When all 
treasures are tested, Truth is the best," says Langland in 
the person of Holy Church, and Chaucer reverences the 
good priest who practiced even better than he preached. 

Protest against the pretensions of the Church found ex- 
pression in deed as well as in word. A series of Parliamen- 
tary enactments undertook to restrain the power of the 
pope and to check the worldly ambitions of the English 
clergy. The Statute of Praemunire forbade the reception statutes of 
or execution of bulls from the pope, together with any ap- n^f^n^Pro- 
peal to the papal court. The Statute of Provisors forced vlsors (1351). 



132 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Twenty thou- 
sand marks a 
year were sent 
to the papal 
treasury. 



1305-1378. 



1378-1439. 



the pope to surrender the practice of appointing foreigners 
to English benefices. In 1366, the tribute of 1,000 marks, 
which John had promised to the Holy See, but which had 
not been paid for thirty years, was refused once for all. 
The Good Parliament protested against other papal exac- 
tions. " The pope's revenue from England alone is larger 
than that of any prince in Christendom. God gave his 
sheep to be pastured, not to be shaven and shorn." The 
Parliament of 1377 mooted the question whether, in view 
of the impoverished state of the country, Peter's pence 
might not properly be withheld. Such bold defiance of 
the Holy See was justified in the minds of contemporary 
Englishmen by the degenerate state of the papacy. These 
are the years of the "Babylonish captivity." The popes 
dwelt in exile at Avignon, an isolated bit of papal 
domain which lay so near the territories of the king of 
France that it could hardly escape his influence. The 
English people scoffed at "the French pope" and sus- 
pected him of being but a puppet in the hands of their foe. 
In 1378 came the Great Schism ; and for fifty years the 
rival popes of Rome and Avignon contested the powers and 
privileges of the Holy See. This "uncouth dissension" 
further alienated the loyalty of all thinking men till it be- 
came evident that the reform could not long be delayed. 
The attack on the English clergy was led by John of 
Gaunt. The political honors of the great churchmen were 
intolerable to this ambitious prince, and he set about curb- 
ing their pretensions. A statute passed in 1371 declared the 
clergy unfit to hold office, and a tax was levied on church 
lands acquired since 1292. 

On the part of Lancaster and the lords, this assault 
on the power and wealth of the Church was not disinter- 
ested, but they found a champion whose single-hearted 
zeal for reform cannot be called in question. John Wiclif, 



Rise of the Commons. 133 

the first great Protestant, was a learned doctor of Oxford, Tohn wiclif 
whose fame had secured him the honorable post of chap- 1320_1384 ' 
lain to the king. His views on the relation of Church and 
State had attracted the attention of John of Gaunt, and 
that crafty politician had conferred upon him the doubtful 
favor of his patronage. Wiclif had ably seconded the 
endeavor of Parliament to restrict the privileges of the 
pope and the English clergy, arguing that such power and 
wealth were inconsistent with the teachings of Christ. The 
essential feature of Wiclif's reform was tbe endeavor to 
recall tbe Church to Apostolic Christianity. Since God 
had revealed himself as the Redeemer of men, each human 
soul might have access to the divine life and was respon- 
sible to God alone. The mediation of the priest was 
unnecessary, and the ecclesiastical hierarchy with its pride 
and its greed for power was a fungous growth upon the 
Church of Christ. The claim of a sinful pope to act as 
vicegerent of Christ was blasphemous. No authority 
could be legitimate that was not sanctioned by God. Ruler 
and priest alike held of him. Obedience need not be ren- 
dered nor tribute paid to an unrighteous lord, though he 
were the king himself. 

Such doctrines quickly called down upon Wiclif the opposition of 
condemnation of the ecclesiastical authorities. The Friars the Friars * 
raised the first cry of alarm. Their hypocrisy and im- 
morality had excited the indignation of Wiclif, and they 
had writhed under many a scathing denunciation at his 
hands. Now his bold utterances against the papal suprem- 
acy gave them opportunity for revenge. Courtenay, 
Bishop of London, the champion of clerical privilege and 
sworn foe of John of Gaunt, summoned Wiclif to defend 
himself against the charge of heresy. Lancaster main- 
tained his cause, and the citizens of London made a 
demonstration in his behalf; but the attack was renewed 



134 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Persecution 
of Wiclif . 



Papal con- 
demnation. 



and he was finally condemned by a synod of the clergy. 
The last eight years of Wiclif's life were overshadowed 
by persecution so persistent, so formidable, that a feebler 
spirit would have quailed before it, but he maintained 
undaunted confidence in God and in the truth as he 
saw it. The faith he defended grew clearer while he 
argued. Pardons, indulgences, pilgrimages, were one after 
another declared of no avail. The climax was reached 
when he boldly denied the doctrine of transubstantiation, 
the corner stone of priestly authority. At this his friends 
wavered. John of Gaunt protested and withdrew his sup- 
port. The Peasant Revolt, which broke out at this in- 
opportune moment, was attributed to Wiclif's subversive 
doctrines. The condemnation of the synod was at last ac- 
cepted by the university, and the great teacher was obliged 
to withdraw to his parish church at Lutterworth. Here, as 
if despairing to accomplish reform by the aid of princes 
and learned men, he devoted his energies to translating the 
Bible into the speech of the people and training disciples — 
his "poor priests" — who should perpetuate his message. 
In 1384 he was summoned to Rome to defend his doctrines 
before the pope, but a stroke of paralysis rendered the 
journey a physical impossibility. He sent a written state- 
ment of his faith, saying, " I joyfully admit myself bound 
to tell to all true men the belief that I hold, and especially 
to the pope ; for I suppose that if my faith be rightful and 
given of God, the pope will gladly confirm it, and if my 
faith be error, the pope will wisely amend it." These were 
bold words to address to the tribunal where heresy was 
more hateful than sin. The Vicar of Christ immediately 
recognized in the advocate of poverty and righteousness an 
arch-enemy of the Church of God. Wiclif died before the 
pope's anathema could reach him, but the sentence was ex- 
ecuted without delay. His doctrine was denounced as. 



Rise of the Commons. 135 

heresy, his writings were condemned, and his poor body,* 
exhumed from Lutterworth churchyard, was burned by 1415. 
the common hangman. 

Not so, however, was the work of the great reformer un- 
done. The students of Oxford cherished his memory and 
the people secretly revered the valiant advocate of the 
rights of man against iniquitous privilege. His " poor 
priests" became most zealous evangelists. They are 

described in a contemporary statute as " going from county Statute against 

preachers of 

to county and from town to town, in certain habits, under heresy (1382) 

never as- 

dissimulation of great holiness, preaching daily not only in sented to by 

House of 

churches and churchyards, but also in markets, fairs, and Commons. 

other open places where a great congregation of people is." 
The writings burned in accordance with papal decree were 
reproduced with marvelous rapidity and copies of Wiclif's 
Bible f were furtively read in the houses of the nobility, in 
the court of the king. Knighton says, doubtless with some 
exaggeration, that every second man one met was a Wiclif- 
ite. 

PROGRESS OF THE PEOPLE. 

A reform movement of even greater significance than 
that of Wiclif and the Lollards v^as agitating the people 
during this vital century. The laboring population — the 
ignored nine tenths of the nation — were waking to self-con- 
sciousness and were striving to free themselves from the 
fetters of feudal dependence and to better their lot in life. 
This upward movement had its origin in the industrial 
prosperity of the period. England was sufficiently removed 



* Tradition says that the ashes were scattered in a stream near by, 
a branch of the Avon. Hence the popular rhyme. 
" The Avon to the (Severn runs, 
The Severn to the sea ; 
And Wiclif s dust shall spread abroad, 
Wide as the waters be." 
t Anne of Bohemia, first queen of Richard II., possessed a copy of 
Wiclif's Bible. Through her the works of the English reformer found 
their way to Bohemia, and there inspired the ill-fated protest of Huss 
and Jerome. 



136 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Commercial 
prosperity. 



Exports of 
woolen cloth. 
1354,5,000 
pieces. 
1509, 80,000 
pieces. 
1547, 120,000 
pieces. 



Artisan class. 



from the imbroglios of the Continent to escape the devas- 
tating wars that checked productive enterprise. The quar- 
rels in which the country was involved by the ambitious 
projects of her kings, were fought out on foreign soil. They 
did not directly interfere with England's industrial devel- 
opment. In the reign of Edward III., an effort was made 
to advance the commercial interests, and, hence, the tax- 
paying power of the kingdom. Foreign merchants were 
admitted to full trade privileges within the realm, and 
when they encountered the jealous opposition of the 
English traders, were taken under the special protection of 
the king. Manufacturers, moreover, were systematically 
encouraged. England had been, hitherto, an agricultural 
country, and the wool cut from the backs of English sheep 
had been sent to Flanders to be woven and dyed. Only the 
coarsest cloths were manufactured at home, for skill and 
implements were still of the rudest. With a view to devel- 
oping this "infant industry," Edward III. offered the 
king's protection to Flemish artisans, who, driven from 
their own land by civil strife, gladly availed themselves 
of the royal favor. They settled in London, Norwich, and 
the eastern counties, and gradually taught English work- 
men better methods of manufacture. The same policy was 
carried out in this and later centuries by heavy duties 
imposed on the importation of foreign cloths and the ex- 
portation of wool. By 1600 woolen cloth had become one 
of the most important articles of export. 

This development of the woolen industry was accom- 
panied by a marked increase in the numbers, wealth, and 
influence of the artisan class. The medieval workman 
occupied a very different position from that of the modern 
factory operative. Machinery had not yet superseded skill, 
and labor, not capital, was the sine qua non of industry. The 
artisan was trained for his craft by several years' appren- 



Rise of the Commons. 



137 




Bandy Ball. Fourteenth 
Century. 



ticeship, and might spend several years more in the trade 
as a journeyman laborer before his education was regarded 
as complete. The fully accredited workman who had saved 
enough money to buy an outfit and hire a shop could set 
up for himself as a master crafts- 
man. As such, he bought his 
raw material, and made it up 
with as much excellence and 
beauty as his skill allowed. The 
finished article was frequently 
displayed in his shop window for sale. With the accumu- 
lation of means, he added to the number of his looms, and 
hired journeymen or took on apprentices as they were 
needed. He was capitalist, employer, and workman com- 
bined. The artisans of any particular town who followed Craft>ei id 
one craft soon saw the advantage of uniting for the further- 
ance of their common interests. Artisan associations arose 
spontaneously wherever there was a considerable body of 
men engaged in the same trade, and were called "craft- 
gilds" or "fellowships." Several such gilds trace their 

origin back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but e -&-> the , .„ 
& ' weavers' gild 

the political and economic conditions of the period under ? ( ! 9 o' ondon " 
consideration were especially favorable to the extension of 
> the system. By the close of the four- 

teenth century there was hardly a 
trade or occupation that was not so 
organized.* A monopoly of its partic- 
ular industry was accorded to the gild, 
and it was held responsible by the 
town authorities for the honest con- 
duct of that trade. Fraudulent sales, dishonest or bungling 




Shuttlecock. Four- 
teenth Century. 



♦There were some eighty chartered craft-gilds in London. Twelve of 
these still exist, viz. : Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Gold- 
smiths, Skinners, Merchant Tailors, Haberdashers, Salters, Iron- 
mongers, Vintners, and Cloth-makers. 



The serfs. 



138 The Growth of the English Nation. 

workmanship, were punished by fine or withdrawal of the 
gild privileges. Unruly members were tried by the officers 
of the gild and then handed over to the town authorities 
for punishment. The craft, no less than the merchant gild, 
undertook the relief of sick or disabled members. Hospitals 
were provided and charitable funds, from which accidental 
losses might be made good, and widows and orphans pen- 
sioned. These artisan associations acquired wealth and in- 
fluence hardly inferior to that of the older trade gilds. 
They had a co-ordinate part in the town government and 
in the election of the two burgesses who represented the 
interests of the municipality in Parliament. During this 
and the succeeding century, the burgess members of the 
House of Commons probably played but a shamefaced part 
in the presence of the knights and court lawyers who con- 
stituted the aristocratic element in that composite assem- 
bly ; but they were gaining confidence with experience, and 
bade fair to become in time the bold and progressive party. 
In manor as well as in town, new forces were coming 
into action, and the restricted conditions of medieval life 
were giving way before the augmenting vitality of the peo- 
ple. The serf population, ignored and despised by lord and 
townsman alike, with no voice in the local or national 
government and no recourse against oppression, was wak- 
ing to a sense of its wrongs, making ready to assert its 
right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Here, 
as in the town community, economic influences were at 
work that, by bettering the material condition* of the peo- 
ple, inspired them with courage to demand freedom. 
Throughout the fourteenth century there was a general and 
increasing tendency to commute labor for money service. 
Just as the king had been ready to convert military service 
into scutage, so the lord found it convenient to receive a 
payment of silver in lieu of the labor hitherto extorted 



Hise of the Commons. 139 

with so much difficulty from the reluctant cultivators of 
his manor lands. Wherever this was accomplished, the 
demesne was henceforth tilled by hired laborers, and the 
serfs were left free to care for their own holdings, for which 
they still paid rent in money and produce. The thrifty 
serf was now in a fair way to become a small peasant pro- 
prietor, while his less industrious or less fortunate fellow 
might lose his claim to the land and drift into the class 
of free laborers. In any case a long stride was taken 
toward complete emancipation when a man rid himself of 
the old degrading services. 

From the two great disasters of the century, the famine 
(1313 and '15) and the Black Death, the working classes 
reaped an incidental advantage. The great falling off in 
the number of laborers, especially after the Black Death, 
occasioned a rise of wages which was sufficient distinctly to 
advance the material well-being of the surviving popula- 
tion. Langland grumbles at the preposterous demands of 
the aspiring hind : 

" Laborers that have no land to live on but their hands 
Deign not to dine to-day on yesterday's victuals. 
No penny ale will pay them nor yet a piece of bacon 
Unless it be fresh flesh or fish fried or baked ; 

And it must be " hot and still hotter " lest their stomachs be chilled 
And unless he be well-paid, he will chide at late 
And bewail the time that he was born a workman." 

Alarmed by the exorbitant demands of their former statute of 
bondmen, the landlords appealed to the king, who, with- 
out waiting to convene Parliament, issued an ordinance de- 
creeing that the former rates of wages should be enforced. 
" Because a great part of the people and especially of the 
workmen have lately died of the Pestilence, many, seeing 
the necessity of masters and the great scarcity of servants, 
will not serve unless they may receive excessive wages," 
and considering the "grievous incommodities " which from 



140 The Growth of the English Nation. 

the lack especially of plowmen and such laborers may 
hereafter come " the king ordains that every man and 
woman of whatsoever condition he be, bond or free, able in 
body and within the age of three-score years, not living in 
merchandise, not exercising any craft, nor having property 
of his own whereof he may live, nor land of his own to 
till," shall be bound to serve the lord who shall require his 
labor and to take only such wages as were customarily 
paid in his parish before the Pestilence. Laborers refusing 
to work on these terms were liable to imprisonment, and 
masters offering more than the legal rate of wages should 
forfeit double the sum so paid. The artificers and work- 
men of the towns were made subject to like restrictions 
and penalties. Ten statutes to the same import were en- 
acted within the next fifty years, each imposing heavier 
Rise of wages, penalties than the last, but in vain. Wages rose steadily* 

from an average of 
threepence a day, in the 
beginning of the cen- 
tury, to sixpence at its 
close. The several Stat- 
utes of Laborers were so 
The Unearthing of a Fox. many attempts to dam 

an incoming tide. The workmen had the vantage-ground, 
and were able to enforce their claims. There is evidence 
that they combined to resist any return to the old rates, 
and formed organizations quite comparable to the modern 
trades unions. Violent outbreaks were not infrequent. 
The employing class took alarm, and, being all-influential 
in Parliament, passed, in 1360, the statute against " covin 
and conspiracy," which declared alliances of workmen 
against their masters illegal. 




* From three pence in 1300 to four pence in 1330 ; five pence in 1370, and 
six pence in 1400. 



Rise of the Commons. 141 

Legislation could not, however, prevent combination ThePeasant 
among men who suffered the same wrongs and hoped Revolt - 1381 « 
for a common remedy. Secret associations were formed, 
with recognized leaders and passwords. It is altogether 
probable that tbe more radical of the Lollard priests aided 
the movement and served as messengers between the differ- 
ent sections of the country. Wiclif's saying, that obedience 
was not due to an unrighteous lord, was interpreted to 
give license for revolt. Matters came to a crisis in 1381 
when the people rose in insurrection. Adequate cause for 
the revolt may be found in the discontent of the laborers 
and the protests of the villeins against the ignoble services 
still exacted by their lords ; but the immediate occasion 
was the imposition of a poll tax in 1380. An attempt had 
been made to distribute the burden according to wealth 
and station ; the rich merchant or landowner was to pay 
sixty groats, the poorest workman no less than one. 

A groat=4d., 

For every child above fifteen years the tax was exacted. or4s. in money 



To the aggrieved peasant, the tax was exorbitant, and its 
ruthless collection seemed the last unendurable straw. The 
revolt broke out simultaneously in Kent, Essex, and Hert- 
fordshire, and spread with marvelous rapidity into all the 
southeastern counties. There were similar risings in dis- 
tricts as remote as York and Lancashire and Devon. All 
accounts of the insurrection are written from the land- 
owner's point of view. Froissart's account sounds like the 
report of a labor riot given by the "capitalist press" of 
to-day. " There happened in England great commotions 
among the lower ranks of the people, by which England 
was near ruined without resource. Never was a country 
in such jeopardy as this was at that period, and all through 
the too great comfort of the commonalty. It is marvelous 
from what a trifle this pestilence arose. . . . It is cus- 
tomary in England, as well as in several other countries, 



of to-day. 



142 The Growth of the English Nation. 

for the nobility to have great privileges over the common- 
alty whom they keep in bondage ; that is to say, they are 
bound by law and custom to plow the lands of gentlemen, 
to harvest the grain, to carry it home to the barn, to thresh 
and winnow it ; they are also bound to harvest the hay and 
carry it home. ... In the counties of Kent, Essex, 
Sussex, and Bedford, these services are more oppressive 
than in all the rest of the kingdom. The evil-disposed in 
these districts began to rise, saying that they were too 
severely oppressed. . . . This they would no longer 
bear, but had determined to be free ; and if they labored or 
did any other works for their lords, they would be paid for 
it. A crazy priest in the county of Kent, called John Ball, 
who, for his absurd preaching, had been thrice confined in 
the prison of the Archbishop of Canterbury, was greatly 
instrumental in inflaming them with those ideas. He was 
accustomed every Sunday after mass, as the people were 
coming out of the church, to preach to them in the market- 
place, and assemble a crowd around him to whom he 
would say : ' My good friends, things cannot go on well in 
England, nor ever will, until everything shall be in com- 
mon ; when there shall be neither vassal nor lord, and all 
distinctions leveled ; when the lords shall be no more 

masters than ourselves. How 
ill they have used us ! And for 
what reason do they thus hold 
us in bondage? Are we not all 

Scaring a Boar. Fourteenth descended from the same pa- 
Century. rentS) Adam and Eve ? . . . 
They are clothed in velvets and rich stuffs, ornamented 
with ermine and other furs, while we are forced to wear 
poor cloth ; they have wine, spices, and fine bread, when 
we have only the refuse of straw, and, if we drink, it 
must be water ; they have handsome seats and manors, 




Rise of the Commons. 143 

when we must brave the wind and rain in our labors in the 
field ; but it is from our labor they have wherewith to sup- 
port their pomp. We are called slaves, and if we do not 
perform our services we are beaten ; and we have not an 
overlord to whom we can complain, or who wishes to hear 
us and do us justice. Let us go to the king, who is young, 
and remonstrate with him on our servitude ; telling him 
that we must have it otherwise, or that we shall find 
a remedy for it ourselves.' " The insurgents first at- 
tacked the manor houses, and committed considerable vio- 
lence, being bent on destroying the court-rolls which re- 
corded their ancient servile dues. Then 
they set out for London, marching in 
scattered detachments, village by vil- 
lage. Their leader, Wat Tyler, whom 
Froissart describes as " a bad man and 
a great enemy to the nobility," had 
learned something of generalship in the 

French wars. Arrived at London, a rabble of some 100,000 
men, not one in twenty armed, they found the gates closed 
and the government prepared for resistance. Tbe common 
people of London, however, sympathized with the revolt. 
In response to their protests, the gates were opened and the 
insurgents entered the city. Some violence was inevitable. 
Savoy Palace, the residence of John of Gaunt, was burned. 
The Archbishop of Canterbury, who, as king's chancellor, 
had proposed the poll tax, was beheaded, together with many 
lawyers and some unfortunate Flemings and Lombards. 
Meanwhile, the king and his counselors, safely ensconced 
in the Tower, debated what might be done. Should they 
gather the nobles and their retainers, and, falling upon the 
rebels in the night, kill them ' ' like flies ' ' ? This they dared 
not do for fear of the sympathetic populace. "Sir," said 
the king's counselors, "if you can appease them by fair 




Wat Tyler. 



144 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Seven thou- 
sand are said 
to have per- 
ished. 



words, it will be so much the better, and good humoredly 
grant them what they ask ; for should we begin what we 
cannot go through, we shall never be able to recover it ; it 
will be all over with us and our heirs, and England will be 
a desert." It was determined to treat with the enemy, and 
the king sent orders that they should retire to "a hand- 
some meadow at Mile-end, where, in the summer, people 
go to amuse themselves." Arrived at the place, the young 
king rode forward bravely enough, saying : " My good peo- 
ple, I am your king and your lord ; what is it that you want, 
and what do you wish to say to me?" Those who heard 
him answered : " We wish thou wouldst make us free 
forever, us, our heirs, and our lands, and that we should be 
no longer called slaves nor held in bondage." The king 
replied: "I grant your wish; now, therefore, return to 
your homes, leaving two or three men from each village 
. . . to whom I will order letters to be given, sealed with 
my seal . . . with every demand you have made fully 
granted." Thirty secretaries were immediately set to work 
to draw up the charters of manumission, and the greater 
part of the people departed for their homes, saying : " It is 
well said ; we do not wish for more." Then the king's 
party threw off the mask of courtesy and good humor. 
Wat Tyler was foully murdered. Jack Straw, John Ball, 
and other ringleaders were seized and executed without 
form of trial. Many serfs suffered death at the hands 
of their outraged masters. The villeins had no resource, 
since the landowners were all-influential in both Houses of 
Parliament. The charters of manumission were revoked 
on the ground that they were granted by " compulsion, du- 
ress, and menace," and an act of pardon was passed, exemp- 
tiug from blame and penalty any lords and gentlemen who, 
in the emergency, had taken the law into their own hands 
and inflicted bodily injury on their bondmen. 



Rise of the Commons. 



145 



So were the people outwitted and the insurrection crushed 

in blood. The dominant classes were, as yet, too strong to 

be withstood. It is quite probable that fear of another 

rising induced many a lord to abate his claims somewhat, 

but he would still enforce what he could, and there is 

abundant evidence that certain forms of serf-labor persisted ?• ft» E1 j. za - 

into the sixteenth century. The eventual emancipation of ? hls ® d the 

J * bondmen on 

the serfs was due, not to insurrection or legislation, but to * Q . e ro Y?l es ~ 



the gradual operation of economic forces. 




A Lady Hunting. Fourteenth Century. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Struggle for the Crown. 



Illustrative Readings. 
Henry IV.; Shakespeare. 
Henry V.; " 

Henry VI.; " 

Richard III.; " 
The Last of the Barons; Lord 

Lytton. 
Warwick ; C. W. Oman. 

Important Dates. 
Reign of Henry IV.. 1399-1413. 
HOI, Statute for the burning of 

Heretics. 
1400, Revolt of Wales ; 1403, of 
the Percies ; 1405, of Archbishop 
Scrope. 



Reign of Henry V., 1413-1422. 

1414, Lollard conspiracy. 

1415, Battle of Agincourt. 
1417, Conquest of Normandy. 
1420, Treaty of Troyes. 

Reign of Henry VI., 1422-1461. 
1429, Siege of Orleans. 

1450, Cade's insurrection. 

1451, Loss of Normandy and Gui- 
enne. 

1455, Battle of St. Albans. 

1461, Battle of Towton. 

1471, Battle of Barnet. 
Reign of Edward V., 1483. 
Reign of Richard III., 1483-1485. 

1485, Battle of Bosworth Field. 



Genealogical table. The rival dynasties. 

EDWARD HI. 

Clarence. Gaunt. 
I 

By Blanche of Lancaster, By Katherine Swynford 



York. 



Henry IV., 
1399-1413. 

Henry V., 
1413-1422. 

Henry VI., 
1422-1471. 

Edward, 

slain at 

Tewkesbury, 

1471. 



(illegitimate). 

John Beaufort, 

Earl of Somerset. 

II 

John Beaufort, 

Duke of Somerset. 

Margaret Beaufort, 
m. Edmund Tudor, 
Earl of Richmond. 

Henry VII., 
1485-1409. 



Richard, 

Earl of Cambridge, 

in. Anne Mortimer, 

beheaded 1415. 

Richard, 
Duke of York, 

slain at 
Wakefield, 1460. 



Edmund Mortimer, 

Earl of March, 

died 1424. 



Anne Mortimer. 



Edward IV. 
1461-1483. 



Elizabeth, Edward V., Richard, 
m. Henry VII. murdered, 

1483. | 



George, 

Duke of Clarence, 

murdered 1478. 



Edward, 
Earl of Warwick, 
beheaded 1499. 

146 



Margaret, 

beheaded 

1541. 



Richard III. 
1483-1485, 
slain at 

Tewkesbury, 

1485. 

Edward, 
died 
1484. 



Struggle for the Crown. 147 

The brilliant promise of the fourteenth century was 
destined to fail of fulfilment. The hopes and aspirations 
awakened in the good times of Edward I. were undone by 
the great calamities which fell upon the land in the reign 
of his successors. War, pestilence, and famine wrought 
their hideous work, sapping the energies that should have 
gone into progress and expansion. The forward movement 
toward political, religious, and industrial freedom proved 
premature and abortive. In the succeeding age the best 
achievements of the fourteenth century were rendered void. 
Degeneration and decay characterized every aspect of the 
national life. Politics dwindled into mere strife of faction, 
worship passed into formalism, the literary impulse ebbed, 
and social relations became demoralized even to brutality. 

THE DYNASTIC WARS. 

Henry IV., like Edward III., came to the throne pledged 

Henry IV. 
to respect the constitutional rights of the nation. His 1399-1413. 

usurpation was a protest against the misgovernment of 
Richard II., and success was achieved by the support of 
the Lords Appellant. At his coronation, he confirmed the 
ancient laws and charters, and promised to govern not ac- 
cording to his own arbitrary pleasure, but by advice of the 
estates assembled in Parliament, and loyally did the king 
keep his word. Constitutional forms were scrupulously 
observed. Taxes and legislation were determined by the 
will of the people. " Never before and never again for two 
hundred years were the Commons so strong as they were 
under Henry IV." But the first Lancastrian came to the 
throne under obligation to the great lords and prelates who 
had combined to depose Richard. Their zeal was rewarded 
by rich booty in titles and estates. Arundel was made Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, while the Percies and the Nevilles 
were given ample assurance of the king's favor. The 
obligation to the Church was redeemed by prompt legisla- 



148 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



statute against ^ ou against Lollardry. All previous measures bad been 
heretics. 1401. ineffective. The doctrine of Wiclif was preached through 
the length and breadth of the land, and the reformed faith 
was being accepted not only by peasants and artisans, but 
by learned doctors and court nobility. The clergy, in 
alarm, appealed to the king to reinforce ecclesiastical sen- 
tence by civil penalty. Henry 
had inherited nothing of his 
father's quarrel with the Church, 
and looked upon the Lollards as 
dangerous adherents of Richard. 
He readily lent his influence to 
the petition which resulted in 
the first act against heretics in- 
scribed among English statutes. 
The confirmed heretic was to be 
burned to ashes in some high 
place before the eyes of the peo- 
ple, in order to strike fear to the 
hearts of any who might be wavering in the approved 
creed. When the commons petitioned that the wealth of 
the clergy should be confiscated to the uses of the State, 
the king sent answer that "from thenceforth they should 
not presume to study about any such matters." 

Such efforts to reinforce his position could not guard the 
new-made king against rebellion. Richard's friends soon 
gathered courage to assert his right to the throne. The 
unhappy prince was secretly murdered the year after his 
deposition, but his partisans did not despair. Rumors that 
Richard was alive, that he had been seen in Scotland, that 
he was rallying his forces at Chester, were rife in the land, 
and stirred the latent discontent of the people. Henry was 
deep in debt and the heavy requisitions he made upon the 
nation's wealth soon quenched the loyalty called forth by 



1410. 



Revolts in 
favor of 
Richard. 




Effigy of Henry IV. and his 
Queen, Joan of Navarre. 



Struggle for the Crown. 149 

his regard for constitutional forms. Divers plots were un- 
dertaken against the king's life. Wales revolted and the 
Percies, whose allegiance Henry had thought secure, 
joined the Welsh in proclaiming the young Earl of March 
rightful heir to the throne. Northumberland rose at their 
call, and the insurrection was with difficulty suppressed. 
The king of France, whose daughter was Richard's queen, 
protested against the usurpation and sent aid to the Welsh 
insurgents. The Gascon cities that had remained loyal to 
the English mistrusted the new dynasty and lent ear to 
the overtures of France. One by one all obstacles were over- 
come, all enemies were outwitted, reconciled, or destroyed, 
and the people won over to the House of Lancaster. But 
the task wore out the king's life. Haunted by secret doubts 
as to his right to the crown, weighed down by a disease 
which his superstitious contemporaries believed to be the 
judgment of God, he grew jealous and suspicious, fearing 
to be displaced in his turn by the popular heir-apparent. 
"He reigned thirteen years," says Holinshed, " with great 
perplexity and little pleasure," but he left a well-founded 
inheritance to his successors. 

Henry V. was a man of different temper ; able, upright, 
and generous, a brilliant warrior and a wise ruler, he was 141 3-1422- 
the best product of his age. Prince Hal, the gay and mis- 
chievous youth whom Shakespeare depicts as FalstafFs 
boon companion, was suddenly sobered by the responsi- 
bility of kingship. " He was changed into another man," 
says Walsingham, "studying to be honest, grave, and 
modest." Disturbing questions as to dynastic right died 

into silence before the popularity of the brave, self-confident Tne execution 

1 of Cambridge 

young king. The Earl of March was received into royal ( 1415 ) oc : 

J ° " J casioned the 

favor, and the conspiracy undertaken in his name by the blood-feud be- 

1 ^ J J tweenthe 

Earl of Cambridge was readily brought to naught. The houses of Lan- 

& j = ft caster and 

king's championship of orthodoxy doubtless added greatly York. 



Henry V. 



150 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Obscure Lol- 
lard rising 
under Jack 
8harp crushed 
1431. 



The French 
Wars. 



to the security of his administration. The statute against 
heretics was reinforced in 1414, and a formidable Lollard 
rising under Sir John Oldcastle was quashed by Henry's 
prompt interference. The leaders were put to death, and 
the movement so discredited, that Lollardry never again 
figured as a menace to the established order. Religious 
discontent smoldered in secret until the Reformation. 

The renewal of the French wars was another popular 
measure. Henry's claim to the French throne was slighter 
than that of Edward III. and had even less chance of suc- 
cess ; but its assertion was eagerly applauded by English- 
men of the day. The war with France had become an 

ancestral feud that must be pros- 
ecuted without regard to conse- 
quences. The barons welcomed 
the opportunity to win fame and 
plunder, while the clergy were 
glad to divert attention from a 
second proposal to confiscate 
ecclesiastical revenues, by voting 
taxes for the French campaigns. 
Military Costume of the Reign The war, so cordially under- 
taken, was carried to a brilliant 
conclusion. The battle of Agincourt was a repetition of 
Crecy. Once again English yeomen overthrew French 
knights with well-directed shots from skilful long-bows, 
and once again the English army, invincible in battle, was 
destroyed by famine and disease. Good fortune, rather than 
valor, gave Henry the ultimate victory. France was de- 
moralized by civil strife. The king, Charles VI., was imbe- 
cile, and the kingdom was divided between hostile factions. 
The Burgundians held the north and west, while the parti- 
sans of the Dauphin were in control south of the Loire. 
The country lay waste and desolate ; the cities were reduced 




Struggle for the Crown. 



151 




to anarchic misrule. A land so distraught was not difficult 
to conquer. The assassination of the Duke of Burgundy 
ruined the cause of the Dauphin. A treaty of peace was 
concluded, the hand of the Princess Catherine being given 
in pledge of fulfilment. The rights of the Dauphin were 
set aside, and it was agreed that Henry was to succeed to 
the throne on the death of Charles VI. In 1421 Henry 
returned to England, accom- 
panied by his fair French bride. 
He was joyfully greeted by a peo- 
ple intoxicated with triumph, 
but a sinister fate awaited the 
warrior king. Returning to 
France to pursue the conquest of 
the south, "he fell sick of the 
great heat," and died only two 

months before the mad monarch Female Costume of the Reign of 

Henry V. From the MS. 
whom he had expected to sue- Royal, 15, D. 3. 

ceed. Henry V. had dreamed of reducing France, not 
merely to submission, but to order and renewed prosperity 
— of carrying the terror of the English name to the far east 
— of conquering the Turks and restoring the Holy Sepul- 
cher to Christian keeping ; but all these great projects came 
to nothing, for the king was cut off in the first flush of 
success before his initial conquests could be secured. 

England was undone by his death. The Prince of Wales 
was but nine months old, and the realm was exposed to all 
the difficulties and dangers of a long minority. Parliament 
vested sovereign authority in a council of regency, ap- 
pointing the late king's brothers, the Dukes of Bedford and 
Gloucester, to the government of France and England 
respectively. Gloucester was a vain, ambitious prince who 
did not hesitate to sacrifice the peace of the country to his 
own advancement. He was soon engaged in a fierce quar- 



Treaty of 

Troyes. 

1-120. 



Henry VI. 
1122-1471. 



152 The Growth of the English Nation. 

rel with Bishop Beaufort, his rival in the government. 
The feud, ceasing only with the death of the principals, 
continued through the first twenty-five years of this un- 
happy reign, and involved the council, the court, and 
ultimately the dynasty in its fatal toils. 

In the meantime, Bedford was spending his splendid 
energy and sorely needed wisdom in the vain endeavor to 
retain the French conquests. The fortunes of France had 
touched lowest ebb in the Treaty of Troyes. With the death 
Prench victo- °f the mad king, courage revived, and loyal Frenchmen 
Joan of Arc. turned to the Dauphin as the hope of the nation. Awak- 
ened patriotism found expression in the self-forgetting 
zeal of Joan of Arc, the marvelous peasant girl of Domremi, 
who inspired the dejected forces of the Dauphin with such 
enthusiasm as enabled them once more to win victories 
from the English. A besieging force was driven back from 
Orleans, the strong city of the loyal south ; the Dauphin 
was carried to Rheims, and there triumphantly crowned in 
the heart of the enemy's country, while one after another 
the fortified cities were recovered from the English garrisons. 
Not even the capture and barbarous execution of the Maid 
of Orleans could daunt the renewed courage of the French, 
but the death of the Duke of Bedford removed the single 
element of strength in the English resistance. In 1436 
Paris was lost and England's possessions rapidly narrowed 
down to the limits attained by Henry II. 

At home, meanwhile, matters were going badly. The 
little king, a delicate but precocious child, was being care- 
fully educated, and he showed himself an apt and submis- 
sive pupil. In happier times he might have become a good, 
even a great sovereign ; but the storm and stress of civil 
strife forced upon him responsibilities far beyond his 
strength. He was crowned king of England when only 
seven years of age, and king of France at ten. Again and 



Struggle for the Crown. 



153 



again, while still a mere child, he was called upon to medi- 
ate between the great barons of the council. The death of 
Bedford bereft him of his only wise and disinterested min- 
ister. The fragile body and overwrought brain of the boy 
king broke under the strain. He was still a young man 
when the curse of his house fell upon him and he became a 
helpless imbecile. The condition of England was pitiable. 
The people groaned under the burden of taxes imposed for 
the prosecution of the French war. The heavy drafts 
required to fill up the ranks of the depleted army, coupled 
with frequent recurrences of the plague, had sensibly re- 
duced the population. The strength of the nation was 
nearly exhausted, and yet Par- 
liament was unwilling to treat 
for peace. Race pride revolted 
against a humiliating conclusion 
to the war so brilliantly inaug- 
urated. The counselors of the 
king, however, seeing that fail- 
ure was inevitable, negotiated a 
truce. A marriage was arranged 
between the young king and 
Margaret of Anjou, Maine and 
Anjou being ceded as the price 
of peace. Normandy was lost in 
1450, and the coast cities, Bor- 
deaux and Bayonne, in 1451 





^fjjl^l 


111 

IP 


GfDLfiL, 


\\ 1 


«S?4 ■ VlfewsiSSU 


$ -^=^^^111111 



John Talbot, Earl of Shrews- 
bury, in the Habit of the Or- 
der of the Garter, presenting 
a Book to King Henry VI. 
and his Queen, Margaret. 
From an illustration In the 
volume so presented, marked 
Royal, 15, E. 6. 



The remnant of Guienne 

Loss of French 
thus passed into the hands of the French king, and Calais territories. 

alone remained to England. 

With the close of the war, a crowd of disappointed knights 
and ragged soldiers returned from over-seas, seeking to bet- 
ter their desperate fortunes. They found the country well- 
nigh ruined, the king impotent, the queen generally hated 
because of the humiliating marriage treaty, and the princes 



sension. 



154 The Growth of the English Nation. 

of the blood-royal engaged in a life and death struggle for 
Civil dis- control of the government. Edmund Beaufort, Duke of 

Somerset, head of the illegitimate branch of the Lancas- 
trian House, had the confidence of the court and the queen ; 
but he was unpopular with the people, and was charged 
with every disaster at home and abroad. His rival, Richard 
of York, had, on the contrary, proved himself an able ruler, 
both in France and in Ireland. He was not only heir- 
apparent to the childless king, but, being descended through 
his mother, Anne Mortimer, from Lionel, Duke of Clar- 
ence, elder brother to John of 
Gaunt, he might advance a better 
claim to the throne than the reign- 
ing dynasty. Distrusted by the 
queen's party and driven from 
court, his name was caught up by 
the malcontents as the guarantee 

of efficient government. Jack 
Civil Costume of the Reign 

of Henry vi. Cade, who incited the fruitless 

peasant insurrection in 1451, assumed the name of Mortimer. 
The "Complaint of the Commons of Kent" protested 
against the misgovernment of unworthy favorites, and de- 
manded that the king recall to court "that high and 
mighty prince, the Duke of York." The Kentish rising, far 
from inducing the king to summon York to his council, 
only heightened the antagonism between that great lord 
and the court party. 

In 1453, Henry fell into a state of imbecility which en- 
dured, with brief intervals of sanity, through the remaining 
eighteen years of his life. The birth of Prince Edward in 
the same year gave at last an heir to the House of Lan- 
caster. Relying on the support of powerful barons, 
notably the Earl of Warwick, York laid claim to the 
protectorate, and did not hesitate to maintain his right by 




Struggle for the Crown. 155 

force. Somerset was slain at St. Albans, and Queen 1445 
Margaret was left alone to defend the interests of her 
feeble husband and infant son. The queen was justly 
unpopular, since there was reason to believe that she was 
soliciting the aid of France and Scotland against her Eng- 
lish foes. Nevertheless she could count on the loyalty of 
the north and west. The Yorkist cause, on the other hand, 
was maintained in London and the rich and populous 
southeastern counties whose commercial and industrial in- 
terests were dependent on efficient government. Richard of 
York, as well as his successors, courted the alliance of the 
people. In 1459, the quarrel so long smoldering broke 
into flame. Parliament, acting under the influence of the 
queen, attainted York and his principal supporters. They 
armed in self-defense and the land was given over to civil 

war. Victory was at first with the Duke of York. At the 

J Wars of the 

battle of Northampton, Henry VI. was taken prisoner and Roses. 

Lancastrians 
York laid claim to the crown. A compromise was effected wore the red 

rose, Yorkists, 
by the advocates of peace ; Richard was to succeed Henry the white. 

VI., the claim of Prince Edward being set aside. Queen 

Margaret, however, rejected the arrangement and fought 

like a lioness for the rights of her son. Richard fell at 

"Wakefield, but his heir, young Edward of York, proved as 

strong a leader. Getting possession of London, he was 

proclaimed king by the citizens and crowned, before the 

, . , , . , , - . Coronation of 

sanction of Parliament was obtained, by a group of parti- Edward iv. 
san lords. The bloody battle of Towton Field wrecked the 
hopes of the Lancastrians. The leading men of the party 
were slain, and the fierce queen was forced to flee to Scot- 
land, carrying with her the husband and son for whom she 
waged this desperate contest. Thus was the work of 1399 
undone, and the act of deposition reversed. The coronation 
of Edward IV. was a reassertion of hereditary right. 
The cause of the White Rose had been staunchly main- 



156 The Growth of the English Nation. 

Warwick. tained by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, near kinsman 

to the house of York, and the most powerful lord in 
England. He held great estates in the midland counties 
and could gather an army of trusty vassals under his ban- 
ner, the ragged staff. He was further so connected by 
blood and marriage with other great families that he could 
count on the support of the major part of the English 
nobility. It was said that " half England would rise at his 
word." An able politician, a man of genial manners and 
wide sympathies, he won the steadfast confidence of the 
people. " He ever had the good voice of the people," says 
the chronicler, " because he gave them fair words, showing 
himself easy and familiar." He, far more than the Duke of 
York, fought in the interest of good government, and the 
victory of the White Rose was due in great part to his 
valiant service. After the crown was won and Edward 
IV. established at Westminster, Warwick was sent to guard 
the north country against the raids undertaken by Marga- 
ret and the Scots. It was no easy task ; the indomitable 
queen stirred the discontented of Northumberland to re- 
volt, and rising after rising was attempted, tasking the 
skill of Warwick to the utmost. 

Meanwhile King Edward at London was pursuing his 
own pleasure as gayly as if his tenure of the throne was 
indefeasible. In 1464 he married Lady Grey, rejecting the 
high-born brides proposed by Warwick, and proceeded to 
bestow titles and offices upon her numerous relatives, the 
Woodvilles, with slight regard to the advice of his former 
councilors. The people murmured that Lancastrian feeble- 
ness " was no worse than the reckless misrule of a York." 
The rebellious commons of Yorkshire, led by Robin of 
Redesdale, protested against burdensome taxation, the 
alienation of the royal estates to upstart favorites, and the 
exclusion from the king's council of the princes of the 



Struggle for the Crown. 



157 



blood. Warwick began to repent him of his work and to 
plot resistance. It required but the weight of his influence 
on the Lancastrian side to turn the tables. A sharp rever- 
sal of fortune drove the over-confident Edward beyond seas 
and restored Henry VI. to the throne. For five months onLniry vi. 
the frail old man held the scepter in his feeble grasp. He ' ' 
was but a shadow king, the real sovereign was the great 
Earl of Warwick. In the 
spring of 1471, Edward re- 
turned to England, protest- 
ing that he had come in all 
loyalty to King Henry, to 
recover but his ancestral 
estates. Encountering no 
resistance from the apa- 
thetic people, he gathered 
courage and reclaimed the 
throne. In the struggle that 
ensued, Warwick was slain, 
together with Prince Ed- 
ward, the hope of the Lan- 
castrians; Margaret was 
taken prisoner, and the old 
king, consigned to the 
Tower, died on the night of 
Edward's triumphant re- 
turn to London. The House of Lancaster fell, overborne by 
force. Twenty years of civil strife had resulted in the the? Lancas- 
triumph of a rival dynasty. It was not a constitutional ^x^im"' 
struggle like that led by Simon de Montfort, by Thomas of 
Lancaster, by the Lords Appellant. Henry IV. and his 
successors had been most scrupulously observant of every 
constitutional form. They had neither attempted arbitrary 
rule nor sought to enrich themselves and their favorites at 




Female Costume of the Reign of 
Edward IV. 



158 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Tyranny of 
Edward IV. 



Edward V. 
14S3. 



the expense of the commonweal. Their failure was in 
"want of governance." The dynasty had failed to strike 
deep root in the loyalty of the nation, because it had fur- 
nished no able administrator. England needed above all 
things a strong and efficient government which should pro- 
tect the weak and restore order to the disorganized State. 
The House of York did not meet this need. The gov- 
ernment of Edward IV. was arbitrary rather than strong. 
Since John, no king had sat on the English throne 
so abandoned to vicious pleasure, so lacking in the 
sense of responsibility for his people. Edward had "a 
conspicuous talent for extortion." Money was wrung 
from his helpless subjects by new 
and ingenious devices. Heavy fines 
were imposed for fictitious offenses 
and "benevolences" were demanded 
on such terms as made this form of 
contribution to the king's neces- 
sities even more vexatious than the 
forced loans of Richard II. No 
Civil Costume of the Reign class escaped the royal exactions, 
of Edward iv. "The rich," says a contemporary, 

"were hanged by the purse and the poor by the neck." 
Parliament was summoned at rare intervals, and its prin- 
cipal business was the voting of forfeitures and bills of 
attainder against the Lancastrian lords. No reform legis- 
lation was attempted. 

Edward's sudden death left the succession ill-defended. 
His son, Prince Edward, was but thirteen years of age. The 
young king's uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, deformed 
of body, brilliant of intellect, and of all the House of York 
most cruel and selfish, the man to whom tradition has 
attributed the worst crimes of this brutal age, had enjoyed 
the full trust of the late king. No sooner was Edward dead 




Struggle for the Crown. 



159 



than Richard began his bloody march toward the throne. 
The Woodvilles were driven from court, some into exile, 
some to the block, and Gloucester was elected protector of 
the realm. Tbe wily duke took the oath of allegiance to 
his young nephew ; but before Edward could be crowned, 
his royal right was set aside and Richard was invited by a 
partisan gathering of lords and clergy, acting in the name 
of the three estates, to assume the crown. The boy king 
and his little brother were murdered in the Tower. 

Richard III. was a man of sinister genius — the worst prod- 
uct of his age. The single Parlia- ^. 
ment of his reign passed a series of 
remedial statutes, und these are 
sometimes cited as evidence that 
the last York was maligned by his 
successors — that the real man might 
have become a great sovereign. 
Since, however, the king did not 
hesitate to set at naught the only 
statute of importance — that declar- 
ing benevolences illegal — he can 
hardly be regarded as the author of the reform movement. 
The two years of his reign were spent in the vain endeavor 
to defeat the rival claimant to the succession, Henry Tudor, 
Earl of Richmond, the last surviving heir of the House of 
Lancaster. At the decisive battle of Bosworth Field, Rich- 
ard was slain, and Henry was proclaimed king. 

THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 

The misery of the people during these years of civil strife 
was such as England had not known since the evil days of 
Stephen. The land was laid waste by rival armies in pur- 
suit of plunder or revenge. Crops were destroyed and 
cattle driven off, the very huts of the peasants were torn 
down, and their owners left to naked beggary. Villages 




Female Costume, Reign of 

Richard III. From an 

Ilium. Royal MS. 



Richard III. 
1483-1485. 



Overthrow of 
the Yorkists 
at Bosworth 
Field. 1485. 



Devastation 
caused by 
the wars. 



160 The Growth of the English Nation. 

and towns were sacked and burned to the ground, and the 
countryside reduced to smoking ruins. More men died 
of want than were slain in battle. Famine and pestilence, 
the attendants of war, added their horror to the general 
distress. The fields lay untilled in many parts of the coun- 
try. The price of wheat fluctuated with every harvest, but 
again and again during the century, it rose to famine rates. 
Pestilence followed close upon famine. The chroniclers 
record some twenty outbreaks of (1 the Death," with hardly 
a space of five years free. Not only was the growth of pop- 
ulation checked, but the number of souls actually fell below 
what it was in the thirteenth century. Suffering and the 
failure of accustomed restraints demoralized the nation. 
Loyalty, honor, all sense of obligation, weakened in this 
age of social disintegration. Treachery, breach of vows, 
barbarous cruelty, characterized the party leaders. Their 
followers, not slow to imitate the evil example, robbed and 
murdered in their turn. 
The Church had well-nigh lost its influence for good. 
Neville, Arch- Dogma once rendered secure by the suppression of the Lol- 
York, sur- lards, little concern was felt for the well-being of the people. 

rendered Lon- ' ° r r 

don to King Th e superior clergy, younger sons of baronial families, took 

JiiCiWEirCl US LilG 

price of safety. an active part in the civil strife, and proved themselves a 

shade more faithless than their non-tonsured allies. 

The baronage was decimated in the course of the dynastic 

struggle.* Many old houses were extinguished, the men of 

the family having fallen in battle. Many more were 

impoverished. The wasteful expenses entailed in 120 years 

of public and private war, and the cost of maintaining the 

splendid establishments required by the fashion of the 

times, were a heavy charge, while the returns from landed 

*The loss of life was heaviest among the nobility. At the battle of 
Northampton, Warwick gave orders that none should slay the com- 
mons, but only the lords, with whom lay the responsibility for the war. 
But twenty-nine barons were summoned to the first Parliament of 
Henry VII. 



e. g„ George 



Struggle for the Crown. 



161 



Liveried re- 
tainers. 
" Livery "' 
(liberatio) was 
originally the 



property were diminishing. Wealth and influence were 
centered in a few great families. There were half a dozen 
peers whose power rivaled that of royalty itself. The Earl 
of Warwick boasted so large a following that six oxen were 
daily slaughtered to provide his breakfast table. The Duke 
of Buckingham's rental was estimated at £180,000 in 
money of to-day, while in his great hall of Thornbury 200 
guests partook of his bounty. The Earl of Berkeley was 
accompanied on his journeys by a retinue of 150 retainers, 
dressed in his livery. A baron's strength was measured by 
the number of followers he could maintain. Such attend- 
ants were fed and clothed, armed and mounted by their 
lord, and were entitled to a share in the booty of war. In 
return for such " livery," the man bound himself to espouse cio^hina-'and 
his lord's quarrels, to answer his summons, and follow him provisions, 
to battle at home or abroad. It was just such a relation of 
mutual service and protection as existed between the Saxon 
earl and his thane. There was, in fact, in the disorgan- 
ized state of society, a reversion to feudalism. Backed by 
their armed retainers, 
powerful nobles made 
war upon each other, 
in pursuit of personal 
ends. Fierce feuds 
and private wars, such 
as disgraced the reign 
of Stephen, were of fre- 
quent occurrence. There was no authority strong enough 
to cope with the turbulent gentry. The kings were but their 
creatures and the courts of justice could not withstand 
their influence. A powerful nobleman had only to appear 
before the justice with several thousand henchmen at his 
back to secure the reversal of a hostile sentence. The 
Parliamentary records of the period abound in complaints 




Preparing for a Joust. 



162 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Maintenance 
was the sup- 
port given by 
lord to client, 
whether in a 
private quar- 
rel or in the 
courts of jus- 
tice. 



Anarchy. 



Industrial 
progress. 



of "the outrageous oppressions and maintenances made 
to the damage of the people in divers parts of the realm." 
From Edward III. to Henry VII. this was a growing evil. 
No less than twelve statutes were enacted against the 
giving of liveries and the maintaining of false quarrels ; 
but legislation could effect nothing when there was no 
strong central authority to put the law into execution. In 
the ignoble strife for possession of the crown, the royal 
authority was discredited. The institutions of government, 
local as well as central, were demoralized, and the kingdom 
lapsed into anarchy. Parliament, formerly the staunch 
defender of the people's liberties, had degenerated into 
the servile tool of dynastic faction. By neglecting to sum- 
mon the hostile lords and by skilfully manipulating county 
elections, the party in power could at any time convene an 
assembly that would ratify its measures of attainder and 
restitution. 

Bad as were the political and social conditions of the age, 
there was still room for considerable industrial progress. 
The citizens of the towns and the lesser folk of the coun- 
try had little to do with the civil wars. Yeomen and 
all below the rank of squire were forbidden by law to don a 
livery or to follow a lord to battle, wnile participation 
in the county elections was limited to persons possessed 
of land worth forty shillings a year.* The process of com- 
muting personal for money service was virtually accom- 
plished in the course of the fifteenth century and the 
former serfs became copyhold tenants. The demesne 
lands were rented on easy terms by their necessitous 
owners to thrifty yeomen who knew how to lay up money 
in spite of the turbulent times. Such a man is described in 



♦Statute of 1430, enacted in consequence of tumults made in the county 
courts " by great attendance of people of small substance and no value, 
whereof every one of them pretended a voice equivalent, as to such 
elections, with the most worthy knights and squires resident." 



Struggle for the Crown. 163 

Latimer's sermon before Edward VI. " My father was a 
yeoman and had no lands of his own, only he had a farm of 
three or four hundred pounds (rent) by year at the utter- 
most, and hereupon he tilled so much as kept half a dozen 
men. He had walk for a hundred sheep, and my mother 
milked thirty kine. . . . He kept me to school, or else I 
had not been able to preach before the king's majesty 
now. He married rny sisters with five pounds apiece. . . 
He kept hospitality for his poor neighbors and some alms 
he gave to the poor, and all this he did of the same farm." 
Such a man, too, was Clemeut Paston, the ancestor of the 
Pastons of Norfolk, whose son became a prominent judge 
and whose grandson married the heiress of a good county 
family 

The fifteenth century has been called "the golden age of Misery0 f 
English labor," and it is true that the period is marked by the P e °P le - 
a steady rise of wages ; but 
prices rose no less steadily 
and the irregularity of em- 
ployment (all labor was sus- 
pended on the frequent 
Church holidays) reduced 
the earning power of the 
workman to the mere cost 
of subsistence. The oft- 

enacted statutes of laborers %£ ers^and.Caxton^ his 
empowered justices of the to Edward IV - 

peace to fix the rate of wages and forbade the laborers 
to move about in search of better pay. Lamenting the 
degraded lot of the farm servants, Sir Thomas More says : 
"The state and condition of the laboring beasts may 
seem much better and wealthier ; for they be not put to 
so continual labor, nor their living is not much worse, 
yea to them much pleasanter, taking no thought in the 




164 The Growth of the English Nation. 

mean season for the time to come. But these seely poor 
wretches be presently tormented with barren and unfruit- 
ful labor, and the remembrance of their poor, indigent, and 
beggarly old age killeth them up. For their daily wages is 
so little that it will not suffice for the same day, much less 
it yieldeth any surplus that may daily be laid up for the re- 
lief of old age." The food and shelter that might be 
procured with such meager earnings was so poor and 
unwholesome that the laboring classes fell an easy prey 
to the pestilence. Leprosy, typhoid, and other filth dis- 
eases ran riot. 

The citizens of the towns were far more prosperous. It 
Prosperity of 

the towns. W as the policy of the burgesses to shirk all responsibility 

for the dynastic strife. Neither White Rose nor Red was 
worth the cost of a siege and the city gates flew open to the 
first comer. The wars, foreign and domestic, were a seri- 
ous interference to commerce. Pirates infested the seas and 
the ports were not infrequently burned by French fleets 
that scoured the coasts. The victory of York, however, fur- 
nished opportunity for the revival of industrial prosperity. 
Edward IV., who earned the title of "Merchant Prince" 
by his successful trade speculations, did much to restore 
security to commerce. A typical burgher of the day was 
Sir Richard Whittington, a prosperous member 'of the wor- 
shipful Mercers Company, who built hospitals and colleges, 
loaned money to the king, and four times fulfilled the 
prophecy rung in his boyish ears by London's bells — 
"Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London." 

The fifteenth century produced no statesmen and no 
poets. It was a brutal age, in which the ideas that had re- 
deemed medieval society — patriotism, religion, chivalry — 
languished, overborne by selfish materialism. The liter- 
ary impulse of the fourteenth century was prematurely 
checked. The ill-fated Henry VI. founded the grammar 



Struggle for the Crown. 



165 



school of Eton and built King's College Chapel, Caxton 
set up his printing press at Westminster in the reign of 
Edward IV., but with such rare exceptions, the age seemed 
intellectually dead. There was a dearth of poetry and 
romance. Even the chroniclers give evidence of the gen- 
eral mental apathy. Their meager records rival the Anglo- 
Saxon in dullness. Yet though the times admitted of no 
individual eminence in culture or in art, the people at 
large had their heart-stirring ballads, their quaint religious 
dramas, played in the city streets on holy days, and faith- 
ful craftsmen wrought new beauty into church and gild- 
hall and market-cross. 




Mummers. Fourteenth Century. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



The Tudors and the Reformation. 



Illustrative Readings. 
Henry VIII.; Shakespeare. 
Wolsey; Creighton. 
Queen Mary; Tennyson. 
Kenilworth ; Scott. 
Elizabeth ; Beesley. 
Westward Ho ! Kingsley. 

Important Dates. 

Reign of Henry VII., 1485-1509. 

1503, Alliance with Scotland. 
Reign of Henry VIII., 1509-1547. 

1512-1514, War with France. 

1529, Fall of Wolsey. 

1529, Reformation Parliament. 

1533, Marriage of Anne Boleyn. 



1534, Separation from Rome. 

1539, The Six Articles. 
Reign of Edward VI., 1547-1553. 

1547-1548, Scotch war. 
Reign of Mary, 1553-1558. 

1554, Marriage with Philip. 

1555, Beginning of persecution. 

1558, Loss of Calais. 
Reign of Elizabeth, 1558-1603. 

1559, Acts of Supremacy and Uni- 
formity. 

1568, Overthrow of Mary. 

1570, Papal Bull against Elizabeth. 

1580, Arrival of Jesuits. 

1587, Execution of Mary. 

1588, Defeat of Armada. 



Genealogical Table. The Tudor dynasty. 

HENRY VII., 1485-1509, 
m. Elizabeth, of York. 



Arthur, Prince of Wales, 
m. Catherine of Aragon, 



m. Henry VIII., 1509-1547. 
m. (2) Anne Boleyn. 
m. (3) Jane Seymour. 



Margaret, 
m. James IV. 



Edward VI., 1547-1553. 
Elizabeth, 1.558-1603. 
Mary I., 1553-1558. 



King of 
Scotland. 



Character of 
the sixteenth 
century. 



CHURCH AND STATE. 

The sixteenth century marks the change from medieval- 
ism to modern society. It was a time of transition, old 
landmarks were passing away to be replaced by a new 
world with different ideals, organized on a different basis. 
The temper of the times was favorable to experiments, 
eager for reforms. Rapid movement and restless activity 
characterized an age fruitful in large ideas and in epoch- 

166 



The Tudors and the Reformation. 167 

making events. The old conception of Christendom as a 
great commonwealth ruled by pope and emperor disap- 
peared with the fifteenth century, and for the next hundred 
years the fortunes of Europe were in the hands of the two 
strong centralized states of France and Spain. The six- 
teenth century saw the break-up of ecclesiastical unity 
with the revolt of half the Christian world against the 
spiritual dominion of the pope. Outside the realm of pol- 
itics and religion, even vaster changes were taking place. 
To the material world of the fifteenth century a whole 
continent had been added, and the Atlantic, formerly a 
boundary, was now the highway between the Old World 
and the New. The deadened intelligence of Europe was 
stirred by the wonders suddenly revealed, the chains of 
medieval thought were thrown off, and the intellectual 
life of the age thrilled in response to the new vigor of 
the world of action. 

England could not remain unaffected by the changes that 
were taking place. She had her Renaissance, her Reforma- 
tion, and her future was linked more closely perhaps than 
any other to the newly discovered world beyond the 
seas. But at first she stood somewhat aloof, content to de- 
velop along the old well-trodden lines. Henry VII., the „ 

7 Henry VII. 

first of the Tudor line, was scarcely thirty when he 1485-1509. 

ascended the throne. His tastes were literary and artistic, 
and he sympathized ardently with the intellectual revival 
of his time, but his reign was one continuous struggle to 
make secure the throne which treachery and a successful 
battle had given him. He had no claim to the crown upon 
which he could rely, even the Lancastrians were not united 
in his support. His security lay in the lack of any power- 
ful rival and in the political exhaustion of the country. 
The nobility, diminished in number and still more in 
wealth and influence, was not strong enough to be formid- 



168 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Court of the 
Star Chamber. 



In 1496 a 
commercial 
treaty, the 
Great Inter- 
course, was 
concluded 
with the 
Netherlands. 



able alone, and the Church, alarmed by attacks upon its 
doctrine and its property, clung to the throne for support, 
while the people, weary of bloodshed, turned eagerly from 
war to trade and commerce, and were ready to give their 
allegiance to any ruler who would establish order and main- 
tain peace. In many ways Henry's reign may be looked 
upon as a continuation of that of Edward IV. To establish 
his rule and to make himself independent of Parliament, 
was the object of his policy. He bore heavily upon the no- 
bility, exacting benevolences and reviving forgotten feudal 
dues. The statutes of maintenance and livery were 
rigorously enforced. To remedy the weakness of the ordi- 
nary courts in dealing with great offenders, 
he formed a new tribunal which could be 
neither bribed nor bullied. While thus hold- 
ing the nobility in check, Henry courted the 
favor of the industrial classes by sparing 
their pockets, and by encouraging trade and 
commerce. To this end he furthered com- 
mercial intercourse with the Continent, but 
he carefully kept out of political compli- 
cations. Peace at any price was his policy, 
and he strove to gain his ends by diplomacy 
and by judicious marriage alliances. He 
disarmed Scotland by marrying his oldest 
daughter Margaret to the Scotch king, and 
he strengthened the connection with Spain by obtaining as 
a bride for his son Prince Arthur, Catherine, the daughter 
of Ferdinand and Isabella. His work was crowned with 
success. The spirit of opposition was thoroughly cowed, 
and two risings in support of pretenders to the throne were 
easily quelled. Constitutional aspirations were checked, 
few Parliaments were called, and the personal rule of the 
king replaced the old limited monarchy. As a result of his 




A Knight of 
the Reign of 
Henry VII. 



The Tuclors and the Reformation. 169 

cautious if inglorious policy, Henry left to his son and heir 
a secure throne, a full treasury, aud a prosperous people. 

The accession of Henry VIII. marks an epoch in Eng- Henry vm. 
Jish history. Young, vigorous, conscious of power, and 
filled with ambition, he could not be content to play the 
unaggressive waiting part so well suited to his father's 
temper. The home and foreign policy of his reign was, 
however, not so much the conception of the king as of his wolsey's 
great minister, Thomas Wolsey, who for a number of years po lcy * 
held supreme power in Church and State, uniting in him- 
self the functions of Chancellor and Cardinal. Wolsey's 
aim was to make the king absolute in England, England 
first in Europe. He felt that the 
royal authority was the only 
means of holding the country to- 
gether, and that the time had 
come for England to take part in 
continental affairs if she would 
maintain her place among 
nations. Peace was his policy, 

however, and diplomacy his Female Costume of the Reign 

_, . , , . of Henry VII. 

weapon. England was to make 

her influence felt not through conquest, but by holding the 
balance between the rival states of France and Spain now 
contending for mastery in Europe. For a time he was 
successful. Henry was popular among his subjects, and 
Parliament was usually subservient to his will, although on 
two occasions it offered a vigorous resistance to the royal 
demand for money. Abroad, English influence was slowly 
making itself felt even if her "threats were more effi- 
cacious than her performances," for her army and navy 
were ill-equipped, and her population was small as com- 
pared with other states. 
Wolsey, however, w r as not destined to complete his un- 




170 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



The Reforma- 
tion in 
Germany. 



1526. 



The royal 
divorce. 



dertaking. Forces were at work which were to transform 
England and undo much that he had accomplished. 
On the Continent, the fierce passions of religious revolu- 
tion were stirring. Men had long been ready for revolt 
against the misused authority of the papacy, and the 
attacks of Martin Luther, a Saxon friar, on the teachings 
and practices of the Church found a quick response. Eng- 
land was not slow to feel the impulse of the new move- 
ment. Lollardry had accustomed men to criticize the 
Church. The bold, vigorous, intellectual spirit of the age 
was impatient of the superstition and ignorance of the 
clergy. The very greatness of the resources of the Church 
made its misuse of them the more flagrant. Books and 
pamphlets from Germany flooded the country, Cambridge 
became a hotbed of heresy, associations were formed for 
the study and circulation of the Bible recently translated 
by Tyndale, and rendered accessible through the printing 
press. It was plain that the seeming strength and power 
of the Church was a mere shadow, wholly dependent upon 
royal support. As yet, Henry was unwavering in his loy- 
alty, but his temper was too selfish, his love of popularity 
too great to afford any security for the future. 

The immediate occasion for the crisis was, however, in 
appearance insignificant and far removed. In the beginning 
of his reign Henry, having first obtained the necessary 
papal dispensation, had married Catherine, the widow of 
his brother Arthur. For almost twenty years they had 
lived together, and she had borne him several children, 
of whom, however, only one, the Princess Mary, survived. 
At length the king's scruples were awakened as to the 
validity of the marriage. He began to doubt the pope's 
power to grant the dispensation. Henry was skilful in 
finding conscientious reasons for gratifying his selfish 
desires. It is probable that it was the bright eyes and 



The Tudors and the Reformation. 171 

merry wit of Anne Boleyn, one of Catherine's ladies-in- 
waiting, that aroused him to the sinfulness of his condition. 
Moreover, he realized the danger to the peace of the country 
in the lack of a male heir. As Catherine proudly spurned 
the suggestion that she should quietly submit to being 
set aside, Henry was forced to appeal to the pope for a 
divorce. But Clement was not free to act, for he was 
practically in the power of the emperor, Catherine's 
nephew. He agreed, however, to let the case be tried by 
a legatine commission in England. Cited before the court, 
the outraged queen pleaded her y 

cause to the king in pathetic /w.4^&* fgi^i 

words: "Sir," she said, "I be- ^f^W^/^V^ 

seech you for all the loves that wf4^^S||=^p® 

have been between us, and for ^^^^-^^'^K^i 

the love of God, let me huvejus- ^Z % \ £\ £x\?^ 
tice and right, take of me some *ljw^pi§^P^^^ 
pity and compassion, for I am /// 

a poor woman and a stranger ^ 

born out of your dominion, I Henry vm. From his 

' Great Seal. 

have here no assured friend, and 

much less indifferent counsel ; I flee to you as to the head of 
justice within this realm. Alas ! Sir, wherein have I 
offended you ? . . . I take God and all the world to 
witness, that I have been to you a true, humble, and 
obedient wife, ever conformable to your will and pleasure." 
Popular sympathy was with the queen, but Henry was un- 
moved. Nevertheless he could not gain his purpose, for 
the pope dared not annul the marriage, and the trial 
before the legates ended in nothing. The king's dis- 
appointment, however, led at once to the overthrow of 
Wolsey, on whom he most unreasonably threw the blame 
of defeat. With untiring zeal and personal devotion the 
Cardinal had labored in the interest of the king and for the 



172 



The Groivth of the English Nation. 



Thomas 

Cromwell, 

vicar-general. 



Long Parlia- 
ment of the 
Reformation. 
1529-L536. 



good of England. To Henry he had given the credit of 
every success. The odium of all unpopular measures he had 
taken upon himself. He had made the king absolute at 
home, and had raised England from a third rate power 
to the rank of a great state. But no memory of past 
services could impose a check on Henry's selfishness. 
Wolsey had failed to procure the divorce that he wished, 
and with royal ingratitude he threw the minister aside. 

Wolsey's fall prepared the way for momentous changes in 
Church and State. The aim of Thomas Cromwell, his suc- 
cessor in Henry's confidence, was, like Wolsey 's, the con- 
centration of all power in the hands of the king, but the 
methods used were different. Rapidity and boldness were 
the watchwords of his policy. During the next ten years 
every constitutional safeguard was swept away, every limi- 
tation on the royal will was removed, and the government 
became a despotism pure and simple. No man was too 
high, no interest too powerful to lead him to stay his hand. 
It was at his advice that Henry by the assertion of the 
royal supremacy freed himself from Catherine. Where 
Wolsey strove to rule without Parliament, Cromwell made 
it his tool. The first indication of the change from the 
conservative action of the Cardinal was shown in the work 
of the Parliament that met in 1529 and sat for seven years. 

Henry was willing to acknowledge the power of the 
pope so long as that power was used to further his will, but 
he now began to doubt the usefulness of an institution that 
stood in his way. The Church in England also had 
aroused his hostility by espousing the cause of Catherine, 
and he was ready to respond to the national demand for re- 
form. The beginning once made, the advance w r as rapid ; 
one abuse after another was attacked. The clergy were 
deprived of their privileges, the Church was made more 
dependent on the crown, and the connection with Rome 



The Tuclors and the Reformation. 173 

was weakened by a statute forbidding all appeal. Finally 
in 1534 tbe last step was taken by the passing of the Act of 
Supremacy by which the king became " the only supreme 
head on earth of the Church of England." 

As a whole the attack on the abuses of the Church and Attitude of the 
the changes in the ecclesiastical system met with popular 
approval. A few, among them Sir Thomas More, foremost 
of English scholars, refused to acknowledge the royal 
supremacy, and were put to death, but the majority of 
the nation went with Henry in his breach with the papacy. 
Even when Convocation at the instance of the king drew 
up the Ten Articles, a statement of doctrine which showed a 
decided advance toward Lutheranism, there was little oppo- 
sition. Nevertheless the national temper was conservative, 
and the ancient Church still held men's hearts if not 
their minds. The excesses of some of those who had em- 
braced the reformed doctrines, their attacks on shrines and 
holy relics, gave deep offense. Popular dissatisfaction was 
increased by the dissolution of the monasteries. This action 
had long been impending, the age of monasticism had 
passed, and as a rule the religious establishments had 
become mere landowning corporations, chiefly interested in 

adding to their own wealth. Henry and Cromwell, led bv 

& J ' In 1536 the 

a desire to get at the revenues, caused Parliament to pass smaller mon- 

asteries were 
measures suppressing all monasteries and confiscating their dissolved, ah 

others were 
property to the crown. Part of the wealth was used for suppressed in 

national purposes, but the greater portion was squandered 

upon the nobles and courtiers about the king. That these 

measures were opposed by the people was shown by a 

rising in the north in 1536. Many of the gentry and 

nobility and the country people led by the parish priests 

joined the Pilgrimage of Grace, as the movement was 

called, and demanded the restoration of the monasteries, 

the extirpation of heresy, and the overthrow of Cromwell. 



174 The Growth of the English Nation. 

In the main, Henry was at one with the people. He 
would have been content with separation from Rome. At 
heart he was opposed to doctrinal change, and with the 
extravagances of the Protestants he had no sympathy 
whatever. He was ready to unite with a majority of the 
nation, and set a limit to the incoming flood of religious 
innovation. Parliament, as usual completely subservient 
to his will, passed in 1539 an act for " abolishing diversity of 
opinion in certain articles concerning Christian religion." 
articles. The s * x articles* of the act contained the fundamental 

Catholic doctrines and closed the way to even moderate 
reform. Under the " whip with six strings," persecution of 
the Protestants followed, and many suffered for conscience' 
sake. Nevertheless, Henry abated nothing of his preten- 
sions, and "at the very moment that heretics were suffer- 
ing for denial of the mass, others were suffering by their 
side for denial of the supremacy." Throughout the re- 
maining years of his reign he succeeded in maintaining an 
uncertain balance between the old and the new order, but 
it was plain that a tide of feeling was rising which would 
soon sweep away all compromises. 

Political considerations strengthened Henry's natural 
conservatism. Cromwell's foreign policy was based on a 
union with the Protestant princes of North Germany, and 
it was in the interest of this plan that the king for a time 
connived at the progress of the Reformation in England. 
A marriage between Henry, who was now a widower for 
the third time, and a German princess was a part of Crom- 
well's scheme. But the grand alliance against the emperor 
came to naught in 1539, and the minister's doom was sealed 
by his failure to give the king a wife according to his taste. 



* The Act of Six Articles asserted : (1) The truth of transubstantiation ; 
(2) the sufficiency of communion in one kind; (3) clerical celibacy; 
(4) the obligation of vows of chastity : (5) the necessity of private 
masses ; (6) that auricular confession should be retained. 



The Tudors and the Reformation. 



175 




Henry VIII. 



Nothing could save Cromwell from the usual fate of Fail of Crom- 
Henry's instruments when no longer needed. Charged with we ' 
treason, he was sent to the scaf- 
fold by bill of attainder without 
being heard in his own defense. 
Cromwell's overthrow was but 
the natural result of the system 
which he had built up. All 
power was concentrated in the 
hands of the king, the Church 
lay at his feet, Parliament simply 
registered his will. Neverthe- 
less, Henry did not lose touch 
with the nation ; he understood 
the temper of his subjects, and, 
unscrupulous and self-seeking though he was, he still won 
popular approval even while treading popular liberty under 
foot. 
Edward VI. was a mere boy when he ascended the „„ 

J Edward VI. 

throne, and during his reign the government was in the 1547-1553. 

hands of his ministers, chief of whom was his uncle, the 
Duke of Somerset. Personal feeling as well as self-interest 
led Somerset to oppose the old ecclesiastical order. In his 
policy he was supported by the young king, who was a 
Protestant by conviction, and who, with all the conceit of a 
precocious boy, was determined to force his views upon the 
country. The short reign was a period of religious revo- 
lution. By law or royal injunction, changes were intro- 
duced with bewildering rapidity. The sacred images were 
removed from the churches, the beautiful stained glass was 
broken, and the pictures painted on the walls were covered 
with whitewash. Of more permanent importance was the 
substitution of the vernacular for Latin in the church 
ritual. The mass was replaced by the communion service in 



176 The Growth of the English Nation. 

The English English, and a book of common prayer, still in use almost 
washa'seT 1 * unchanged, was substituted for the Latin missal and 
Roman ca£ e breviary. Upon the authority of the king, forty-two 
and 'breviary. ai *ticles smacking strongly of Calvinism were promul- 
gated as the national standard of faith. The confiscation 
of church property was carried to a length unthought of 
by Henry. Somerset leaned for support upon the "new 
men," the nobility enriched by the plunder of the monas- 
teries, and it was necessary to satisfy his rapacious follow- 
ing. The chantries were despoiled. Gild property devoted 
to religious uses was appropriated, and the revenues of 
some of the bishoprics were seized. These revolutionary 
measures were hurried through with every aggravation of 
insult, and with small regard to popular feeling. A writer 
of the time says : "Also this same time was moche spek- 
ing agayne the sacrament of the auter, that some callyd it 
Jacke of the Boxe, with divers other shamfulle names . . . 
and at this time was moche preching agayne the masse and 
the sacrament of the auter pullyd downe in divers placys." 
It soon became plain that the nation was not ready for 
such extreme action. The feeling of discontent was gen- 
eral. All opposition was, however, put down with a high 
hand. The opposing clergy were bridled by decrees that 
there should be no preaching except by a few licensed 
preachers ; and some of the bishops who clung to the 
older doctrines were thrown into prison. 

The political policy of the government was as ill-judged 
as its ecclesiastical reforms. The country was involved in 
causeless wars with Scotland and France, and the bur- 
den of taxation was heavy. At length the prevailing dis- 
content found expression in a rising in Devon and Corn- 
wall, followed by another in Norfolk. The only result was 
the overthrow of Somerset. He was succeeded by the Earl 
of Warwick who proved no wiser nor better. Nevertheless 



The Tudors and the Reformation. 177 

the country remained quiet, looking to the time when the ^V'arwick: pur- 
young king would come of age and set things right. Had ^^throne 6 
Edward lived, his fanatical temper would probably have ^£ grand- 
brought matters to a crisis, but in 1553 he died, and, in spite younger^f/ter 
of a conspiracy headed by Warwick to set her aside, Mary of Henry VIII. 
obtained the crown without striking a blow. 

The religious system which Edward and his advisers had 
built up rested solely on the will of the king, and at the ac- ^i^g^ 
cession of Mary a reaction at once set in. Without the 
interference of the government, mass was restored and the 
forms and practices of the reign of Henry VIII. were 
reestablished. Mary, however, was not content with a 
return to the system of her father ; she wished to restore 
the ancient order in all its completeness, to set up the 
monasteries again, to renew the connection with Rome. It 
was in part to further her religious scheme that she de- 
sired to marry her cousin Philip of Spain. At first 
Parliament showed itself, as usual, obedient to the royal 
will, but it soon became evident that there was a limit to 
its complaisance, and that in its opposition it was sup- 
ported by the country. It was certain that reconciliation 
with Rome could never be brought about if it meant the 
restoration of the abbey lands in which forty thousand fam- 
ilies were interested. Moreover, national feeling was 
aroused at the idea of the Spanish marriage which might 
bring not simply ecclesiastical subjection to Rome, but polit- 
ical dependence upon Spain. Parliament, however, was at 
length brought to the point of acknowledging the spiritual 
leadership of the pope, on condition that the monastic 
lands should be left undisturbed, and the Spanish marriage 
was finally consummated in spite of the opposition at home 
and abroad, and the lukewarmness of the bridegroom who, 
much as he prized the crown of England, cared little for 
its wearer. 



178 The Growth of the English Nation. 

Mary was not content, however ; she believed that "she 
had been preserved by God in the succession of the crown 
Persecution. for no other end save that He might make use of her above 
all else in the bringing back of the realm to the Catholic 
faith." In forcing her views upon the nation she showed 
all the self-will of the Tudors, united to the intemperate 
zeal of the fanatic. Her advisers hesitated ; even Philip 
counseled moderation, but nothing could deter the queen 
from the work upon which she had set her heart. She 
forced from Parliament a renewal of Henry's laws against 
heresy, and at once pressed on their execution. From 1555 
to 1558 persecution raged. Neither high nor low were 
spared. The Martyrs' Memorial at Oxford marks the place 
where Ridley, the deprived bishop of London, and Lati- 
mer, Henry the Eighth's favorite preacher, were burned 
side by side. " Play the man, Master Ridley," were Lati- 
mer's last words, " we shall this day light up such a candle 
by God's grace in England as I trust sball never be put 
out." Foremost of the martyrs stood Cranmer, primate 
bishop ofCan- or " the Church. Of great learning, but of cautious temper, 
ceive the pan ne na cl slowly come to take an advanced stand in oppo- 
from Rome. s [f lon to the papal pretensions ; but though his conviction 
was strong his heart was weak, and he shrank before the 
final test. Six successive times he recanted in the hope of 
purchasing pardon, but pardon was out of the question ; 
he stood as a representative of English Protestantism, and, 
moreover, Mary was personally hostile to him as an active 
agent in her mother's divorce. When once his final doom 
was pronounced he regained his courage. " I have written 
many things untrue," he said, " and forasmuch as my 
hand offended in writing contrary to my heart, my hand 
therefore shall be the first burnt." Nearly three hundred, 
in all, suffered for the right of individual conscience — most 
of them in the towns and thickly settled districts, for there 



1558. 



The Tudor s and the Reformation. 179 

new opinions found more ready acceptance than in the 
country. 

Darkened by bitter disappointment, the life of the un- 
happy queen drew to a close. A loving wife, she was 
forced to see that Philip had sought in her merely the 
instrument of his political schemes. Through the Spanish 
connection, England was involved in a useless war with 
France which had resulted in the loss of Calais. This was 
a heavy blow to the nation, and Mary was too much a 
Tudor not to feel the popular disapproval visited upon 
her. Moreover, all her efforts had brought England no 
nearer the old faith, nay, had rather frustrated her purpose. 
Men looked askance at a church that could' maintain itself 
only through persecution. 

" It is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes," 
was Elizabeth's exclamation when informed of her peaceful Elizabeth. 

loo o— 1603. 

accession to the throne. The task before her was one to 
daunt a heart less strong. England stood almost alone in 
Europe, at war with France, the treasury empty, without 
army or navy. Her only security lay in the rivalry be- 
tween France and Spain. The internal condition of the 
country was even more critical. Religious strife had 
passed beyond the point of reconciliation. The bulk of the 
nation longed for peace and might have agreed to a return 
to the system of Henry VIII., but that was impossible, for 
the Catholic party was bent on maintaining the connection 
with Rome, while persecution had made more fierce and 
uncompromising the temper of the Protestants. Elizabeth 
had little sympathy with either extreme. The Protestant 
contempt for authority and tradition was distasteful to 
her. Subjection to Rome was out of the question, for the 
pope refused to recognize her claim to the throne. But 
she approached all religious questions in the temper of the 
politician. She was not blind to the fact that the Protes- 



180 



The Growth of the .English Nation. 



Elizabeth's 

religious 

policy. 



tants were her surest support, that her cause was theirs. 
But, on the other hand, she knew that severe measures 
against the Catholics would open the way to foreign 
intrigue. To establish national unity in Church and State 
was the aim of her home policy, and to this end a religious 
settlement was to be devised which would win the support 

of the moderates and 
drive no one to ex- 
tremes. In religious 
matters, Elizabeth 
was content to move 
slowly. The suprem- 
a c y was restored, 
mass was abolished, 
and an Act of Uni- 
formity decreed the 
use of King Ed- 
ward's Prayer Book. 
But although the 
oath of supremacy 
was rigorously ex- 
acted from the bish- 
ops, all but one pre- 
ferring deprivation to 
compliance, the ma- 
jority of the clergy 
were left unmolested. 




Queen Elizabeth. 



Nor was the Act of Uniformity very severely enforced. The 
queen feared above all things the renewal of strife ; she dis- 
couraged preaching, and she would gladly have abated the 
interest of her subjects in religious questions. There was 
no revolution ; the changes were scarcely noticed, and yet, 
within a year after Elizabeth's accession, England had 
ranged herself once for all on the side of Protestantism. 



VIII. 



The Tudors and the Reformation. 181 

The condition of affairs beyond the border was at this England and 

time a serious menace to Elizabeth's throne, and made ary 

religious contest more than ever to be feared. In 1558 the 

long-standing friendship between France and Scotland was 

cemented by the marriage of Mary, the young Scotch 

queen, to the Dauphin of France. Denying the right of 

jvi£iry otu&rX) 
Elizabeth on the ground of illegitimacy, Mary assumed the daughter of 

Jumes IV. of 

title and style of Queen of England. The danger of her Scotland, and 

granddaugh- 

claim lay in the certain support of France and the English ter of Marga- 
ret, elder sis- 

Catholics. Left a widow by the sudden death of her ter of Henry 

husband, Mary returned home to find her kingdom rent by 
civil strife and religious dissension. She was a mere girl 
of nineteen, but in her were combined womanly beauty 
and grace with masculine vigor of body and mind. For a 
moment discord was silenced by her skilful diplomacy and 
personal fascination. She united the warring nobles in 
her support, and settled the religious question by acknowl- 
edging the Calvinist establishment. These measures were 
but the first steps toward the attainment of the real end 
of her policy, a Catholic combination which would place 
her on the English throne. Unfortunately for Mary's suc- 
cess, the achievements of her diplomacy were speedily 
undone by the ungoverned passion of her nature. In 1565 
she made a political marriage with her cousin Lord 
Darnley. He was a miserable creature, ill-fitted for such a 
wife. Mary's contempt for her weakling husband was soon 
turned to hate by his cruel murder of her friend and secre- 
tary, Rizzio. " No more tears," she exclaimed at the news 
of the deed, " I will think upon revenge." A few months 
later Darnley was assassinated at Kirk o' Field, a lonely 
house near Edinburgh. Mary's part in the affair is 
doubtful, but at any rate she did not scruple to marry 
within three months the man generally held to be chiefly 
instrumental in the deed. Brutal and self-seeking as he 



182 The Growth of the English Nation. 

was, the Earl of Bothwell had succeeded in winning Mary's 
passionate devotion, and for his sake she threw away 
crown and reputation. Her subjects were filled with horror 
at her act, and within a month Bothwell had gone into 
exile, and the queen was a prisoner in Edinburgh. Before 
another year was past she had abdicated in favor of her son 
James, born of her marriage with Darnley, and had fled to 
England to throw herself on the mercy of Elizabeth. It 
was not an easy question for the English government to 
face. To replace Mary by force upon the Scotch throne was 
out of the question, nor did it seem wise to let her go free 
to stir up trouble among the Catholics. The difficulty was 
met by holding her virtually a prisoner in England. 

During the following years, the country, under Eliza- 
beth's cautious guidance, was quietly preparing for the crisis 
of the reign. Religious war raged on the Continent, but 
by skilfully balancing one party against another, while 
committing herself to none, Elizabeth kept England at 
peace. An ever present danger was the Catholic party. 
The hostile spirit of the pope and a rising of the Catholic 
nobility of the north in favor of Mary, led tbe government 
to severer measures of repression, and freedom of thought 
The Thirty- was interfered, with as well as freedom of worship. The 
nine Articles, acceptance of thirty-nine of the Articles of Edward was 
demanded of the clergy, and by the Test Act, the first in 
^(fed^n 1562 a l° n g series of penal statutes against the Catholics, the 
but not at first oa th of abnegation was exacted from all officeholders, 
enforced. -p or ^e p rese nt, the adherents of Rome remained quiet, 

disheartened by the defeat of the Scotch intrigue and the 
inactivity of the Catholic rulers of the Continent. In 
the growing dissatisfaction of some of the Protestants 
there was a hint, however, of coming trouble. Many 
among the nation felt that the queen had not gone far 
enough in the settlement of the religious question. They 



The Puritans. 



The Tudors and the Reformation. 



183 



had no thought of separating from the Church as estab- 
lished, and they did not wish the abolition of Episcopacy, 
but they contended for greater purity of worship, for the 
rejection of certain practices and rites that suggested 
Rome. These Puritans, as they were called, scarcely rep- 
resented the nation as a whole, but they were active and 
intelligent, and constituted a strong element in the House 
of Commons. More than once their independence and 
bold speech brought them into conflict with the queen, 
who had little patience with 
their religious aspirations or po- 
litical views. They were desirous 
that England should commit 
herself to a decided Protestant 
policy by taking sides with the 
French Huguenots and the re- 
volted Netherlands. Moreover, 
they felt that the safety of the 
nation depended upon the 
queen's marriage with a Protes- 
tant and the settlement of the 
succession. Both requests Elizabeth steadily refused. She 
felt that decided measures would drive the Catholics to ex- 
tremes. Moreover, a diplomatic steering between two 
courses was a policy well suited to her temper, for she found 
nothing so difficult as making up her mind. 

However, events were soon to compel England to take an 
active part in the great struggle between the opposing 
forces of Calvinism and Rome. The pope had at length 
learned that the Protestants must be met with their own 
weapons, that revolution could be arrested only by reform. 
The chief instrument of the purified papacy in the task 
of winning back Christendom to the pale of the Romish 
Church was the Society of Jesus. Unquestioning obedi- 




Costnmes of the Reign of 
Elizabeth, about 1588. 



184 



The Qroivth of the English Nation. 



English 
Catholic 
Seminary at 
Douay, in 
Flanders. 



Execution of 
Mary Stuart, 
1587. 



ence and untiring devotion were shown by the Jesuits in 
their work of combating heresy and heathenism, and 
under their inspiration the broken ranks of the Catholics 
were slowly closing up. In 1570 the pope issued a bull of 
excommunication against Elizabeth, and absolved her sub- 
jects from their allegiance. This was but preliminary to a 
well-organized plan for the reconquest of England. Jesuits 
from Douay wandered about the country in various dis- 
guises, striving to revive the zeal of the Catholic party. 
Their success was marked, and there seemed danger that 
they might undo all that had been gained by Elizabeth's 
policy of compromise. The Protestants and the govern- 
ment in their fear magnified the danger, and strove to meet 
it by a revival of persecution. The priests were driven 
from the country, liberty of opinion was crushed, and a 
policy of suspicion and repression adopted toward all 
Catholics, which but served to increase their devotion to 
the ancient Church. 

The fear of an impending religious crisis was intensified 
by the shadow of political danger. The power of Spain 
was steadily growing ; in wealth and military strength she 
held the foremost place, and her great resources were 
controlled by one man whom national feeling as well as 
ardor in the cause of Rome made the implacable foe of 
England. Not only had Elizabeth interfered in Philip's 
political and religious schemes, but her subjects were 
waging a destructive if desultory war against Spanish 
commerce all over the world. The time was favorable for 
action. France was under the control of the Guises, in 
close alliance with Spain, and in the Netherlands Parma 
was gaining ground against the revolted Protestants. 
Everywhere the temper of the Catholics was rising. Eng- 
land was not slow to realize the situation, and the first 
result of her sense of danger was the death sentence of 



The Tudors and (he Reformation. 185 

Mary Stuart. For eighteen years the Scotch queen, the Ridoifi plot 

157'^ 

center of Catholic intrigue, had remained a prisoner on 
English soil. Plans for the assassination of Elizabeth had Babington 
been more than once discovered, and it was now felt that 1586.' 
there was but one way of saving her life, and that was by 
taking the life of the woman whose existence alone gave 
rise to such plans. 

Mary's death left England free to meet Spanish hostility 
as a national question and forced Philip to conduct his e rma a * 
attack in open day. An invasion of England had long 
been planned. In 1588 the preparations were complete and 
the " Invincible Armada," a fleet of over one hundred and 
twenty vessels, set sail for the English coast. With her 
usual parsimony and dilatoriness the queen had delayed 
taking measures for defense. The navy contained but 
thirty-eight ships all told, most of them small and ill- 
equipped. But private enterprise made good the royal 
shortcomings, and the merchants of every port sent their 
best ships well-manned to take a share in the national 
defense. Moreover, the English were fired with enthu- 
siasm ; they longed " to have a good, severe, open war with 
Spain, as the only road to an honorable settlement." But 
English seamanship united to English courage might have 
failed to win the day had the winds not done their part. 
A terrible storm arose, rendering unmanageable the un- 
wieldy Spanish vessels. The enterprise ended in failure ; 
of the great fleet but fifty-four ships returned to Spain. 

The defeat of the Armada marked the crisis of Eliza- close of the 
beth's reign. One by one her difficulties had cleared Ehlabeth. 
away. There was no fear of a second attack from Spain ; 
France was now ruled by Henry of Navarre, leader of 
the Huguenot party. All internal troubles had been van- 
quished by her moderation. At the time of the Armada, 
national feeling triumphed and the Catholics had re- 



186 The Growth of the English Nation. 



mained quiet, taking no advantage of the difficulties of the 
government. By the close of the century many of them 
had found their way into the Anglican Church. The 
Puritan spirit was growing stronger, and a few persons 
declaring for independence had established a separate sect. 
But as a whole men were united in support of the national 
Church. In political matters there was a good understand- 
ing between the queen and her subjects. The administra- 
tion had been economical, and 
as a rule Parliament had 
cheerfully granted the royal 
demands. A spirit of inde- 
pendence was becoming more 
manifest, but the queen never 
mistook the popular temper. 
She might " rate her Commons 
like school-boys," but she could 
yield gracefully. The welfare 
of the nation was ever her chief 
concern. With masculine in- 
tellect and womanly devotion she had labored in its service, 
sacrificing personal happiness and ambitions in its inter- 
est, and she spoke from the heart in her last words to the 
Commons, "Though you have had, and may have many 
princes, more mighty and wise, sitting in this seat, yet you 
never had, or ever shall have, any that will be more careful 
and loving." 

THE ENGLAND OF THE TUDORS. 

The England of to-day, a great maritime, commercial, 
and industrial power, began to take shape in the sixteenth 
century. Economic and social conditions were changing. 
The old medieval industrial system was breaking up, and 
trade and commerce, animated by a keener, bolder spirit, 
were seeking out new channels of enterprise. At the 




Elizabeth. 



The Tudor s and the Reformation. 187 

opening of the century England was still an agricultural 
country ; wheat and wool were her staple crops, and she 
bore to Flanders the relation that Australia now bears to 
the mother country. At its close, wool was no longer sent 
abroad, but was woven and spun at home. When the first 
Tudor ascended the throne, England was without a navy, 
and much of her carrying trade was in the hands of 
foreigners. The defeat of the Armada in the reign of Eliza- 
beth paved the way for the ultimate commercial supremacy 
of England. 

Foremost among the causes for these changes was the 
discovery of the New World. Trade with America had 
become of importance, and England's position gave her 
at once a superiority over all rivals. The religious con- 
flicts of the Continent, resulting as they did in the disturb- 
ance of trade and industry, redounded also to England's 
advantage. It was the destruction of Antwerp by Alva 
that made possible the development of London into the 
leading mart of Europe. Nor should the policy of the rulers 
be overlooked. The Tudor rule was despotic, but at least it 
was paternal, and the statute books of the century bear 
proof to the unwearying interest of the government in the 
welfare of the people and the development of national 
wealth. Not one detail of life and industry was over- 
looked. Exports and imports were regulated, prices were 

fixed, the time of sale was set, and the quality and char- 

. , . . , , Statute of ap- 

acter of goods to be manufactured decided ; wages were prentices, 1562, 
iiTi-i ■, j, i i, ,. . -. , ^ regulated con- 

established and the length of service decreed. Everywhere ditionsofser- 

the State interfered, and, on the whole, with good re- 
sults. 

Such vast changes could not be brought about without Agriculture, 
serious disturbances in society. The effect of increasing in- 
dustrial activity and the new money-getting spirit was 
shown in the agrarian revolution of the early part of the 



188 The Growth of the English Nation. 

century. Wool-growing was becoming more profitable. 
There was a tendency to the formation of great sheep farms, 
and land was being turned from tillage to pasture. As the 
land became increasingly valuable, the commons were 
Open field, the enclosed, and the open fields, the arable lands tilled by the 
early com- villagers, were not infrequently seized by the lord under a 
wasdivided 5 ' strained interpretation of his proprietary right. Evictions 
half-acre * became frequent, houses, whole villages even, being torn 
tenant culti- down and the fields turned into sheep-walks. "All the 
beroituch " houses of Burton Lazars in the same vill (Choysell) are 
diverse^arts 11 laid waste, and the inhabitants have departed ; and there 
longing to the* belonged to the same houses three hundred acres of land, 
whereof forty are plowed, but the rest are in pasture ; and 
by the downfall, the church has fallen into ruins." These 
changes entailed grievous suffering upon the cottagers and 
small farmers. Rents rose, and at the same time the rights 
of common pasture were cut off. Moreover, work became 
scarce, for one man was now employed where formerly the 
labor of many was required. " For whereas," wrote Lati- 
mer "have been a great many householders and inhabi- 
tants there is now but a shepherd and his dog." The 
small holders were ruined, many of them becoming home- 
less wanderers swelling the ranks of paupers and vaga- 
bonds. Sir Thomas More, in his Utopia, voices the popular 
grievance : " Sheep," he wrote, " become so great devourers 
and so wild that they eat up and swallow down the very 
men themselves. They consume, destroy, and devour 
whole fields, houses, and citizens." The government 
recognized the evil and strove to meet it by legislation. 
It decreed that no man should keep more than two thou- 
sand sheep, and at the dissolution of the monasteries it was 
enacted that the new owners should " occupy yearly as 
much of the same demesnes in plowing and tillage of hus- 
bandry ... as hath been commonly used." Legisla- 



The Tuclors and the Reformation. 



189 



tion availed little, however, and the evil continued until 
the close of Elizabeth's reign. 

Side by side with laws which point to the miserable con- 
dition of the country people, are others that would seem to 
indicate the decay of industry and trade and the impover- 
ishment of the towns. Many of the towns lost in popula- 
tion and wealth during this period. This was due chiefly 
to the ill-judged interference of the gilds which drove new 
enterprises into the country. The usefulness of the gild 
system was gone ; it no longer served its original purpose, 
and the gilds themselves had become narrow corporations. 
Membership was restricted to the sons of members or to 
those who could pay heavily for the privilege, and it was 
no longer possible for the average journeyman to become a 
master craftsman. The antiquated regulations of the gilds 
were inconsistent with the increasing activity of trade, and 
the government tended more and more to transfer their 
functions to the municipal authorities. Freed from the 
jurisdiction of a system which was outgrown, manufactures 
took a vigorous start. The making of woolens became an 
important element of national wealth. The eastern counties 
were noted for their worsteds and 
fine cloths, and even the back- 
ward north felt the effect of the 
new interest, and developed its 
own special line of friezes and 
rough goods. The government 
endeavored in every way to pro- 
mote a growth so favorable to 
national prosperity. The export 
of materials that might be man- 
ufactured at home was forbidden, and the consumption of 
English goods was decreed by statute. " On every Sunday 
and holy day every person of six years old and upwards, 




Civil Costume of the Reign 
of Henry VII. 



Manufactures. 



Commerce. 



190 The Growth of the English JVation. 

with some few exceptions, was to wear on his head one 
cap of wool fully wrought in England." The manufactur- 
ing interest owed less, however, to legislation than to the 
steady hospitality which the government extended to the 
persecuted of other lands. In the latter part of the reign of 
Henry VIII. an immigration of religious refugees began 
which continued until after the revocation of the Edict of 
Nantes, a century and a half later. Most of those who came 
were skilled workmen, and they enriched the country with 
many new manufactures. As early as 1544 Flemings and 
Walloons swarmed into England and established at Nor- 
wich the silk industry, the source of its later prosperity. 
At the fall of Antwerp, one third of the merchants and 
manufacturers of the city came to London and laid the 
foundations of its commercial greatness. Sometimes the 
immigration was opposed by the jealousy of the natives, 
but as a rule its value was recognized, and towns are found 
petitioning to have strangers allotted them. 

The growth of manufactures, coupled with the protective 
policy of the government, might have resulted in isola- 
tion had it not been for the expansion of commerce which 
marked the close of the century. Under Henry VII. 
England had no navy, and but little commerce of her own. 
Her sea-going population showed nothing of a spirit of 
enterprise and adventure, and England's share in the 
discovery of the New World was but insignificant. Even 
a hundred years later a navy scarcely existed. It is true 
that Wolsey and Henry VIII. paid some attention to its 
development, and at the beginning of the reign of Eliza- 
beth a statute was passed making the eating of flesh on 
Friday and Saturday a misdemeanor, for the "increase of 
fishermen and mariners." The government saw in the 
fisheries the best school for seamanship. Elizabeth, how- 
ever, was content to commit the defense of the country 



The Tudors and the Reformation. 191 

to private enterprise, and of the vessels that went out to 
meet the Armada, only about thirty belonged to the State. 
Nor did legitimate commerce flourish. In 1573 the burden 
of all the ships engaged in ordinary trade was less than 
fifty thousand tons. It was in privateering that the love of 
adventure and the desire for gain, which marked the mari- 
ners of the Elizabethan period, found vent. Great as were 
the risks involved, the returns were even greater. Moreover, 
England's rival on the sea was Spain, and patriotism and The sea dogs, 
religious fervor combined to give these buccaneering raids 
something of the character of a crusade. While the 
two governments were still formally at peace, Spanish and 
English sailors were fighting on every sea, and politic as 
might be Elizabeth's regrets for the depredations committed 
by her subjects, she was too wise to interfere with enterprises 
that increased the national wealth and insured the national 
defense. Unchecked, therefore, by the government, this 
irregular commerce flourished and became a favorite invest- 
ment for capital. Still more directly supported by the crown 
were the merchant companies chartered to have exclusive 
control of the commerce of different lands. Monopolies of 
local trade were felt to be a serious grievance and were con- 
stantly protested against, but in foreign lands they were a 
necessary means of defense for the trader. The most im- 
portant of these associations was the East India Company, 
which was incorporated in 1600 for the purpose of obtain- 
ing a share in the trade of the east. 

It was to be expected that the overturning of industrial pauperism 
conditions would for a time affect disastrously the working 
classes, and the marked increase in pauperism during the 
century is therefore not surprising. The main cause of the 
evil was to be found in the agricultural changes. The 
difficulty of the situation was aggravated, however, by 
the rise in prices, due to the influx of silver from America. 



192 The Growth of the English Nation. 

Moreover, the decay of husbandry had resulted in scarcity 
of food. In words that call to mind our own times, 
More describes the condition of those evicted to make 
room for sheep. "By one means or other . . . they 
must needs depart away. . . . All their household 
stuff . . . being suddenly thrust out, tbey be con- 
strained to sell it for a thing of naught. And when 
they have wandered abroad till that be spent, what 
can they else do but steal, or else go about a-begging?" 
Then as now, side by side with the helpless poor were 
found the worthless and lazy. Complaints were frequent 
of the " sturdy beggars," forerunners of the modern tramp, 
who swarmed over the country, terrorizing the rural dis- 
tricts. A contemporary wrote of them : "If they ask at 
a . . . farmer's house his charity, they will go strong 
as three or four in a company, where for fear more than 
good will they often have relief." At first there was no 
systematic attempt to face the situation. Relief of the 
poor was originally a function of the Church, especially of 
the monasteries, but with time the obligation was either 
lost sight of, or aid was so unwisely given that it was said 
"the abbeys did but maintain the poor they made." It 
was impossible, however, that a government so paternal as 
the Tudors should not endeavor to meet the growing evil, 
and step by step, by means of a long series of experiments, 
an elaborate system of poor relief was worked out. The 
obligation of the State in the care of the poor was fully 
recognized, and what was formerly a religious duty to be 
enforced by the Church came to be regarded as a public 
charge to be met by a regular assessment on property by 
the civil authorities. The principle of local responsibility 
was soon established, each parish being bound to care for its 
own poor. Gradually the proper distinction between pau- 
pers and vagabonds was worked out, houses of correction 



The Tudors and the Heformation. 



193 



being erected for the lazy and vicious, while suitable relief 
was given to the helpless poor, children being usually ap- 
prenticed to a trade. Some effort was also made to provide 
work for able-bodied paupers, and the county authorities 
were empowered to lay in a stock of hemp, wool, iron, and 
other materials " to the intent that youth may be brought 
up in labor, . . . also that rogues may not have any 
just excuse in saying they cannot get any service or work, 
. . . and tbat other needy persons being willing to work 
may be set on work." In 1601 the long series of statutes 
culminated in the great poor law of Elizabeth, an elabora- 
tion of the principles and machinery already recognized. 
This in its main provisions remained the basis of the Eng- 
lish system of poor relief until the eighteenth century. 

Extremes met in the sixteenth century ; the growth in social 
luxury and extravagance was as marked as the increase in Pr °s ress - 
pauperism. Everywhere were visible new conceptions of 
comfort, increased attention to display. The gloomy, for- 
tress-like dwellings of the nobility gave place to the 
Elizabethan manor house with its wide portals and long 
lines of windows. In the towns, 
the growing wealth of the mer- 
chant class was indicated in the 
appearance of much finer resi- 
de n c e s , and throughout the 
country generally wooden houses 
were replaced by dwellings of 
brick or stone. A contemporary 
writer in speaking of the 
changed manner of living notes 

"the multitude of chimnies latilie erected" ; "the great 
amendment of lodging"; "the exchange of vessels, as 
of woodden platters into pewter, and woodden spoons 
into silver or tin." Increased gorgeousness of attire was 




Ladies of Quality. 



Literature. 



194 The Growth of the English Nation. 

as marked as the improvement in house furnishing. Men 
" wore a manor on their backs." The Englishmen's love 
of feasting had always been noticeable. A Spaniard, writ- 
ing in the time of Mary, said of them, " they fare com- 
monly as well as the king," but even in this regard there 
was increased expenditure. This spread of luxury was 
viewed by many with dismay. "England spendeth more 
on wines in one year than it did in ancient times in four 
years," was the complaint of a royal minister. One writer 
laments "the over quantity of unnecessary wares brought 
into the port of London," Numerous sumptuary laws were 
passed, with, however, but little effect. 

The vigorous life and restless activity which stirred the 
material world was reflected in the world of letters. The 
Renaissance, the great intellectual movement that origi- 
nated in Italy in the fifteenth century, was slow in reaching 
England. While continental Europe was reading with 
avidity the stores of classic literature, brought to its shores 
by the Greek scholars driven from the East at the fall of 
Constantinople, England was torn asunder by the contend- 
ing factions of the Roses. With the restoration of peace, 
however, Englishmen caught the impulse of the new move- 
ment, and turned with eager enthusiasm and untrammeled 
zeal to tbe study of classic lore, and the investigation 
of the wonders in the world of nature. The English 
Renaissance received its impulse from abroad, but it at 
once assumed atone all its own, "less literary, less largely 
human, but more moral, more religious, more practical in 
its bearings both upon society and politics." In the life 
and work of three men, Colet, Erasmus, and More, its di- 
verse aspects found expression. In Colet was typified the 
religious rationalism of the new movement ; Erasmus re- 
flected its more purely intellectual character ; while in More 
all its freshness and audacity of thought were brought to 



The Tudors and the Reformation. 195 

bear on the practical questions of the day. His famous 
work, Utopia, was a satire on the defects of English society 
brought out in a description of the condition of life in 
"Nowhere." In his views More was strangely at odds 
with the tendencies of his age ; he anticipated, however, 
the most important social and political reforms of later 
times. 

The promise of the Renaissance was great, but before it 
had reached fulfilment it was overwhelmed by the fierce tide 
of religious revolution. Reason and reform were trampled 
under foot by dogma and fanaticism. It was not until the 
settlement of the religious question under Elizabeth left 
men free to consider other things, that the earlier revival of 
letters bore fruit in the wonderful outburst of literary 
activity which marked the close of the century. The vigor 
of the national life was reflected in the originality of 
thought, the boldness of conception that characterized the 
world of letters. Its restless curiosity, the many-sidedness 
of its interests, found expression in a literature which in- 
included the "Novum Organum " of Bacon, and the 
"Ecclesiastical Polity" of Hooker, Spenser's "Faerie 
Queene," and Shakespeare's " Hamlet." 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Stuarts and Puritanism. 



Illustrative Readings. 

Three English .Statesmen ; Gold- 
win Smith. 

"Woodstock ; Scott. 

Old Mortality ; Scott. 

John Inglesant ; Shorthouse. 

Lorna Doone ; Blackmore. 

Important Dates. 

Reign of James I., 1603-1625. 

1604, Hampton Court Conference. 

1621, Fall of Bacon. 
Reign of Charles I., 162.5-1649. 

1626, Impeachment of Bucking- 
ham. 

1628, Petition of Right. 

1637, Ship money decision. 

1639, War with Scotland. 

1640, Short Parliament. 

1640, Long Parliament. 

1641, Execution of Strafford. 
1641, Grand Remonstrance. 
1643, League with Scotland. 

Genealogical Table. 



1641, Marston Moor. 
1645, Naseby. 

1649, Execution of Charles. 
Commonwealth, .1649-1660. 
1653, Dissolution of Long Parlia- 
ment. 

1653, Barebone's Parliament. 

1654, First Protectorate Parliament. 
1656, Second Protectorate Parlia- 
ment. 

1658, Death of Cromwell. 
Reign of Charles II., 1660-1685. 

1661, Cavalier Parliament. 

1665, Dutch War. 

1667, Fall of Clarendon. 

1670, Treaty of Dover. 

1678, Popish Plot. 
Reign of James II., 1685-1689. 

1687, First Declaration of Indul- 

gence. 

1688, Acquittal of Seven Bishops. 

1688, Landing of William. 

1689, Crown accepted by William. 



JAMES I., 1603-1625, m. Anne of Denmark. 



Charles I., 

1625-1649, 

m. Henrietta 

Maria of 

France. 



Charles II., 

(nominally) 

1649-1660, 

(actually) 

1660-1685, 

m. Catherine 

of Braganza. 



I 

Mary, 

m. "William II., 

Prince of Orange. 



Elizabeth, 

Frederick V 

Elector 

Palatine. 

Sophia. 

George I., 

1714-1727. 



James II. 

1685-1689, 
. (1) Anne Hyde, 

m. (2) Mary of Modena. 



"William III., m. Mary II. 

Prince of 1689-1694. 

Orange, King of 

Great Britain 

and Ireland, 

1689-1702. 



196 



Anne, T 
i7(V-> 1714 James. 
1702-1714. (Tne01d 

Pretender.) 

Charles Edward. 
(The Young 
Pretender.) 



The Stuarts and Puritanism. 197 

OPPRESSION AND REBELLION. 

The accession of the House of Stuart marked the close of 
a century of personal rule based on public opinion, and the 
opening of a century of conflict between Crown and Parlia- 
ment for supremacy. Under the Tudors, royal will and 
national interest were in the main identical, but the 
Stuarts, with complete disregard of popular feeling, strove to 
set their wishes against the nation. Moreover, as if to 
force a decision which Tudor tact had avoided, they were 
not content with the substance of power, but insisted upon 
its formal recognition, maintaining in all its boldness the 
doctrine of the divine right of kings. Popular temper 
could ill brook such assumptions. The nation had acqui- 
esced in the Tudor despotism because it saw in the royal 
authority the only means for securing peace and for carry- 
ing on the struggle with the papacy and Spain. But the 
times had changed. Imbued with a new spirit of independ- 
ence born of Protestantism, the nation was preparing to 
claim for itself a larger share in the control of the govern- 
ment. Royal assumptions were met by popular claims, an 
aggressive king was matched by an aggressive Parliament. 
There was nothing in James I. to make the new preten- j ames i. 
sions more acceptable to the nation. His unattractive ex- 1603_1625 - 
terior and undignified bearing were in sharp contrast to the 
royal carriage of his predecessor, and his shrewd sense and 
ready wit could not make amends for the coarseness of his 
uncouth speech. The. national sense of decency was shocked 
by the grossness and unveiled immorality of the court, and 
national pride was outraged at the elevation of low-born 
and worthless favorites above the greatest of the nobility. 
With views so irreconcilable, a conflict between the king 
and the nation was sure to come. The question was made 
more complicated, however, and the issue forced by the 
antagonism between king and people in religious matters. 



198 The Growth of the English Nation. 

A large minority, at least, of the English people, were 
Puritans, impatient of authority, regardless of tradition, 
and desirous of reform. This was the time of England's 
real Reformation. The movement of the sixteenth century 
was more royal than popular, more political than religious. 
Puritanism, the religious movement of the seventeenth 
century, struck far deeper into the national life, not merely 
modifying men's ecclesiastical opinions, but stirring and 
transforming their spiritual natures. The Puritans had 
hoped much from James, but the logical outcome of his 
high ideas of royal prerogative was hostility to independ- 
ence of thought in religious questions. A conference on 
ecclesiastical matters, called by the king at Hampton 
Court, revealed the fact that the weight of his influence 
would be on the side of the High 
Church party. To others all free- 
dom of action was denied. " I will 
make them conform," he said of 
the Puritans, "or I will harry them 
out of the land." Although no 
friend to the Puritans, James had 
little mind to favor the Catholics, 
and the penal laws of Elizabeth's 
reign were strictly enforced. Har- 

JamestheSixth of Scotland assed and irritated, some of the 
and First ot England. Catholics entered into a conspir- 
acy, the so-called Gunpowder Plot, to destroy king and 
Piot P0 Tti04^i605. Parliament. Their plans, however, came to naught. The 
Guy^Fawkes. disappointment of the Puritans found a more legitimate 
expression in the House of Commons, where they formed a 
strong element, and the king met with much annoying 
opposition. Thus, within a twelvemonth of his accession 
to the throne, the lack of harmony between the king and 
the nation had been laid bare. 




TJie Stuarts and Puritanism. 199 

The first year was typical of the whole reign. The king's 
policy outraged every popular instinct, frustrated every 
popular wish. Government by statesmen was replaced by 
the rule of favorites, chief among whom was the Duke of 
Buckingham, whose only claim was his beauty and grace- 
ful manners. Wastefulness and imbecility characterized 
every department of the administration. James' unvary- 
ing purpose was to free himself from all control, but his 
financial difficulties placed him at the mercy of the Com- 
mons, and each appeal for help was met by a demand for 
redress of grievances. Remonstrances were met by the 
dissolution of Parliament, and from 1614 to 1621 the king 
ruled without its aid. To fill his empty treasury he had 
recourse to many expedients ; ancient feudal dues were 
revived, titles were sold, and customs were levied by 
proclamation, a practice against which the Commons had 
twice vigorously protested. The revival of monopolies was 
a serious evil and served to arouse the nation without add- 
ing to the revenue of the government. 

James' home and foreign policy were closely connected. 
To make himself independent of Parliament it was neces- 
sary to maintain peace abroad. Moreover, he felt his 
ability did not lie in war. Proud of his statecraft, he hoped 
to maintain quiet on the Continent by an alliance with 
Spain, and proposed the marriage of his son with the 
Spanish In(anta. There was something to be said in favor 
of the king's policy, but events rendered it impracticable. 

In 1618 the long impending struggle between Catholics „,,_. . „ 

Thirty Years' 
and Protestants broke out in Germany. James' own son- War - 1618-1648. 

in-law, the Count Palatine, was involved, and it was im- 
possible for England to stand aloof. The king still strove 
to play the part of peacemaker, but the nation detested the 
Spanish alliance, and was eager for war. In this crisis it 
was necessary to summon Parliament, and at once the 



200 The Growth of the English Nation. 

storra broke loose. The ancient right of impeachment 
was revived against the royal ministers. Francis Bacon, the 
chancellor, was attacked partly for taking bribes, but 
partly for his support of the prerogative ; protests were 
made against the Catholic alliance, and a declaration 
of war against Spain was demanded. The temper of the 
Commons was rising, and a proclamation forbidding all 
consideration of foreign affairs was met by a resolution 
that the privilege of discussing these matters was theirs by 
right as English subjects. The king with his own hand 
tore the resolution from the journals of the House. " I 
will govern according to the common weal, but not accord- 
ing to the common will," he said, and ordered the dissolu- 
tion of Parliament. No words, however, could annul what 
had been done. In twenty years James had turned respect 
for the monarchy into contempt, loyalty into hatred. He 
had insulted Parliament and asserted his authority as no 
Tudor had ever done, but in spite of his efforts, rather 
because of them, the constitutional gains of his reign out- 
weighed all that had been achieved since the fall of the 
House of Lancaster. 
Charles I. Men hoped much from the accession of Charles I. The 

dignity of his bearing and the decorum of his life had 
created a favorable impression, and his known hostility to 
the Spanish alliance aroused the expectation of a more 
popular rule. His government, however, was no improve- 
ment on the preceding. The king's opposition to Spain 
was the result of pique, and did not imply an essential 
change of policy. On the other hand, he believed as 
strongly as James in the royal prerogative, and had even 
less comprehension of the popular temper. The enthu- 
siasm with which his accession was greeted soon cooled. 
His marriage with a French princess and a fancied leaning 
toward Rome aroused fears of a Catholic reaction, while 



162&-1649. 



The Stuarts and Puritanism 201 

the continued influence of Buckingham left little hope of 
more capable action abroad, or more constitutional rule at 
home. Parliament at once took a suspicious attitude, re- 
fusing to grant supplies until grievances were redressed. 
Buckingham was looked upon as the cause of all difficul- 
ties, and at length the Commons, despite the command of 
the king, proceeded to his impeachment. To save his 
friend, Charles at once dissolved Parliament, and for the 
next two years he tried what he could do without one. 
Everywhere the arbitrary tendencies of the government 
were apparent. All sorts of illegal means were employed 
to fill the treasury. The courts of justice were made in- 
struments of the royal tyranny. The collection of a forced 
loan was ordered and those who resisted were imprisoned 
at the king's pleasure. A foolish foreign policy involved 
England in war with both France and Spain, drained the 
resources of the country and brought the government little 
credit. 

In 1628 Charles was driven by his necessities to call a new 
Parliament. The Houses met in no favorable temper, and 
at once proceeded to discuss the condition of the country. 
All men were stirred by the recent attacks on personal 
rights. "We must vindicate our ancient liberties," said 
Sir Thomas Wentworth in words to which his later 
career lent strange meaning, "we must reenforce the laws 
made by our ancestors. We must set such a stamp upon 
them as no licentious spirit shall dare hereafter to invade 

them." Discussion ended in the drawing up the Petition Petition of 

* Right, 

of Right, second only to Magna Charta in constitutional 

importance. The right of all men to a fair and speedv "Old South 

1 J Leaflets,' Gen- 
trial was asserted, martial law was prohibited in time of erai series, 

1 No. 23. 

peace, and the control of Parliament in all matters of taxa- 
tion was reaffirmed. Charles was forced to agree to the de- 
mands of the Commons, but in his heart he was bent on 



202 The Growth of the English Nation. 



pursuing his old course. He was obliged, however, to act 
henceforth without the counsels of his favorite, for a few 
days after the signing of the Petition of Right, Bucking- 
ham died by the knife of the assassin. His fall brought 
no change of policy; it but widened the breach between the 
king and the nation. Buckingham had borne the brunt 
of the popular dissatisfaction ; Charles was now forced to 
take the odium of his own misdeeds. 
Personal The dissolution of the Houses in 1629 was followed by a 

H)°9-i6™ ent ' period of personal rule. For eleven years no Parliament 
was called. "We have showed by our frequent meeting 
our people our love to the use of Parliament ; yet the late 
abuse having for the present driven us unwillingly out 
of that course, we shall account it presumption for any to 
prescribe any time unto us for Parliament." During these 
years the king governed the realm through ministers, the 
irresponsible agents of his policy. The ruling spirit in 
secular affairs was Wentworth, once the champion of 
English liberties, now the willing servant of despotism. 
Political conviction as well as personal ambition had led 
him to forsake the popular cause. His hostility had been 
directed rather against the influence of Buckingham than 
against the power of the crown. For the wisdom of the 
people he had little respect. He saw all the defects of 
Parliamentary rule, and none of its good points. His 
ideal was the system of the Tudors, and his purpose was 
to "make His Majesty as absolute as any king in Christen- 
dom, and as little subject to conditions." In Church 
matters the king's chief adviser was Archbishop Laud. 
Unity through uniformity was the keynote to Laud's 
policy. His favor toward Catholics was as marked as his 
hostility to Puritans, and he strove to enforce conformity 
while gradually drawing the Church nearer to Rome. 
With entire sympathy the two ministers labored together 



The Stuarts and Puritanism. 203 

to carry out the policy which they dubbed "Thorough." Court of High 
The machinery through which they worked was the Privy deflnUe1y 0n ' 
Council and the Courts of the Star Chamber and High L^hadjuris- 
Commission. The press was muzzled, the pulpits were ecclesiastical 
" tuned," the judges bribed or intimidated. Freedom of ma ers ' 
speech no longer existed, liberty and property were en- 
dangered. Imprisonment and mutilation were inflicted on 
many because of tbeir religion, many more fled to America 
to escape persecution. The chief difficulty that beset the 
crown was the need of raising a revenue. The royal 
forests formed an important source of supply, and by reviv- The bounds of 
ing obsolete laws their boundaries were greatly extended, fores^wer™ 
Exorbitant fines were exacted for all kinds of petty g^toSt? ™ 
offenses. The sale of monopolies was carried to an un- miles> 
heard of extent. " They sup in our cup," it was later said 
of the monopolists, " they dip in our dish, they sit by our 
fire. . . . They have marked and sealed us from head 
to foot." To secure a fixed revenue, a plan was devised of 
exacting ship-money from all the counties, nominally for 
the defense of the country. At first the money was used 
according to the avowed intention, but the principle was so 
capable of extension that Wentworth said of it : " Let the 
king only abstain from war for three years that he may 
habituate his subjects to tbe payment of this tax, and in 
the end he will find himself more powerful and respected 
than any of his predecessors." The nation saw this as 
clearly as Wentworth. John Hampden, a gentleman of 
Buckinghamshire, undertook to bring tbe question of the 
legality of ship-money before the courts of law. But the 
judges were tools of the king, and the decision was in his 
favor. One judge declared that rex was lex, and Chief 
Justice Finch asserted "that they are void acts of Parlia- 
ment to bind the king not to command the subjects, their 
persons and goods, . . . for no acts of Parliament 



204 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Quarrel with 
the Scotch. 



The Short 
Parliament, 
April, 1610. 



make any difference." It was vain to look for justice to 
courts guided not by the law, but by the will of the king. 
Hampden's resistance aroused the people, his defeat 
showed the peril of the situation. Nevertheless action was 
still delayed. No leader had come forward, the intermis- 
sion of Parliament left the national tem- 
per in doubt, and many of the bolder 
spirits, despairing of improvement, left 
the country to seek a home in the Puri- 
tan commonwealth beyond the sea. 
But the stupidity of the king was has- 
tening the crisis. The signal for revolt 
came from Scotland. The vigorous 
Puritanism of the north had not been 
able to hinder the reestablishment of 
Episcopacy, but the feeling of the people 
was openly hostile and it was evident 
that patience was almost at an end. 
Nevertheless, Charles and Laud deter- 
A Countrywoman. mine d to force upon the Scotch a new 
Church service modeled upon the English prayer book. 
National pride as well as religious feeling was offended 
at this innovation from England. The first attempt to 
use the new liturgy met with opposition which soon 
ripened into rebellion against the political authority of 
the king. Charles dared not draw back, however, for fear 
of the effect in England. Unprepared and unsupported 
he tried to face a united, determined Scotland. Defeat 
at length forced bim to abandon the policy of the last 
eleven years and summon Parliament. The Houses came 
together in no unreasonable spirit, but it was plain that 
grievances must be redressed before aid would be granted. 
" Till the liberties of the House and kingdom were cleared, 
they knew not whether they had anything to give or no." 




The Stuarts and Puritanism. 205 

Money, not debate, was what Charles wanted and Parlia- 
ment was dissolved with nothing accomplished. The des- 
perate state of affairs in Scotland soon forced the king to The Long 
summon a second Parliament — the famous Long Parlia- November' 

1(340. 

ment of the Rebellion. The nation's temper had changed; 
men realized that now was their time ; Scotland's cause was 
the cause of English freedom. Ignoring the king's demand 
for money, the Commons, at the instance of Pym, a marked 
man in the earlier struggle and the real leader of Parlia- 
ment, proceeded to a consideration of the evils of the realm. 
Wentworth, now Earl of Strafford, was the first object of 
attack. He was regarded as the mainstay of the royal des- 
potism. So long as he lived Charles could not be intrusted 
with power. His condemnation was a foregone conclusion ; 
a bill of attainder was hurried through both Houses, and 
received the signature of the king who a few days before 
had assured him that he should not suffer in " life, honor, 
or fortune." Strafford paid the penalty of being out of 
touch with his generation, of endeavoring to restore a con- 
stitution which the nation had outgrown. 

The overthrow of Strafford was followed by an attack on 
the powers of the crown. One measure after another was 
passed limiting the prerogative, and establishing guaran- 
tees of constitutional rule. Parliament was to be sum- 
moned at least once in three years, the levying of taxes 
without its consent was forbidden, all irregular courts 
were abolished. So far as laws could accomplish it, the 
life, liberty, and property of the subject were made secure. 

Thus far the action of Parliament had been practically 
unanimous. Now, however, division appeared. Some 
were satisfied with what had been obtained, others deemed 
additional guarantees necessary. Discussion of ecclesiasti- 
cal questions showed that while all wished reform, some de- 
sired revolution, and would abolish Episcopacy altogether. 



206 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Irish Rebellion. 
October, 1641. 



These differences of opinion were strengthened by a revival 
of personal loyalty to the king, standing helpless and 
almost alone. This was Charles' opportunity. By ally- 
ing himself frankly and heartily with the moderate re- 
formers he might have cut the ground from under the feet 
of the radicals. But Charles was incapable of straightfor- 
ward action, of giving his confidence completely. He 
called to his counsels Hyde and Falkland, the leaders of 
the Conservatives, but at the same time he carried on 




[Adapted from Gardiner's School Atlas.] 

secret negotiations with the Scotch and with the army, 
in the hope of using them against his opponents. An out- 
break in Ireland complicated the situation. An army 
would be necessary to put down the rebellion. Could the 



The Stuarts and Puritanism. 207 

king be trusted with forces which he might turn against 

Parliament? Pym and Hampden answered no. Under „ 

their leadership the Grand Remonstrance, a statement of f.^f? c J- ., 

1 ' ''Old South 

grievances, a program for the future, an appeal to the Leaflets," Gen- 
people, was fought through Parliament. This was the No - 24 - 
crisis of the contest. Failure to pass the Grand Remon- 
strance would have meant to many the abandonment of 
the struggle. "Had it been defeated," said Oliver Crom- 
well, member for Cambridge, "I would have sold to- 
morrow all I possess and left England forever." Success 
completed the division of the nation into two parties. 
Lack of confidence in the king had forced men to ex- 
tremes. Their violence now led to the formation of a royal 
party. It was plain that war could not long be delayed. 
A few weeks later Charles left London, never to return 
until brought back a prisoner. 
The royal standard was raised at Nottingham, Parlia- 

The GrG3.t Rg* 

ment called out the national militia, the country ranged beiiion. 
itself on one side or the other. With the king were most of 
the nobility, many of the gentry, the High Church party ; 
the border counties, also, were royalist in sympathy. A 
few of the upper classes supported Parliament, but the 
strength of the Roundhead cause lay with the towns- "Roundhead " 
people and yeomanry. For a time the war dragged, p^fha^rof the 
Neither side desired too complete a victory. Many among ^ untans - 
Charles' supporters feared he would vise success to reestab- 
lish what had been overthrown. And some on the op- 
posite side saw in the removal of all restraints a prospect 
of Parliamentary despotism which they liked no better 
than royal tyranny. On the whole, success was with the 
king. The Parliamentary recruits, the offscouring of the 
towns, were no match for men whose loyalty would lead 
them to fight for the crown though it " hung in a bush." 
With the next year Parliament began to retrieve its 1643. 



208 The Groivth of the English Nation. 

position despite the loss it suffered in the death of Pym, its 

great leader. His last act had been to secure the alliance 

of the Scotch by inducing Parliament to accept the 

The Covenant. Covenant and establish Presbyterianism. In the hands of 

"Old South 

Leaflets," Gen- Oliver Cromwell, now the guiding spirit in military affairs, 

6r«il Scries 

No. 25. the army was completely transformed. Cromwell was the 

first to point out the defect of the Parliamentary forces and 
to indicate the remedy. " You must get men of a spirit 
that is likely to go on as far as gentlemen will go." " Men 
of religion are wanted to withstand these gentlemen of 
honor." Cavalier loyalty was to be matched by spiritual 
zeal. None were received into the "New Model," as the 
reformed army was called, save those of sober Christian 
life, but all who could fight and pray were made welcome 
regardless of class or sect. Parliament was dominated by 
the Presbyterian party, but among Cromwell's Ironsides 
was a spirit of toleration elsewhere unknown. Such an 
army was never before seen. It was made up not of adven- 
turers and mercenaries, but of yeomen and tradespeople. 
The citizen was never lost in the soldier, each man knew 
for what he was fighting ; the end once attained he was 
eager to return to his home and calling. Such forces were 
irresistible. Royalist defeat at Marston Moor was fol- 
lowed by royalist rout on the field of Naseby. 

Charles was hopelessly beaten in war, but his cause was 
not yet lost. In the diverse opinions of his foes lay a way 
of escape. Parliament seemed more desirous of ridding 
itself of the army with its detestable ideas of toleration 
than of completing the overthrow of the king. The Scots 
were ready to furnish Charles with a sufficient force pro- 
vided he would acknowledge Presbyterianism and suppress 
Independency. Cromwell and his men wished to restrain 
both crown and Parliament in the interest of civil and re- 
ligious liberty. The battle of Naseby, in fact, marked 



The Stuarts and Puritanism. 209 

the close of the civil war, and the beginning of a greater 
struggle, a struggle between conformity and freedom, 
progress and conservatism. On the one hand stood the 
army, on the other Parliament and the Scots. Each of the 
opposing forces was ready to make terms with the king. 
Parliament insisted on the establishment of Presbyterian- 
ism and the control of military forces for twenty years. 
The proposals of the army were more moderate. " We de- 
sire no alteration in the civil government, as little do we 
desire to interrupt the settlement of the Presbyterian 
government, only we wish that every good citizen and 
every man who walks peaceably in a blameless conversa- 
tion, and is beneficial to the commonwealth, might have 
liberty and encouragement." With each and all Charles 
carried on his intrigues, playing off Scots against English, 
army against Parliament. At length he was rewarded by 
seeing two of his enemies, the Scots and the army, come to 
blows. But the patience of the Ironsides was exhausted. 
A quiet settlement of the country was impossible so long as 
Charles was alive. With swift success Cromwell's forces 
overthrew the Scots, and turned "to call Charles Stuart, 
that man of blood, to an account." Through the forced 
expulsion of some of its members, the House became a sept 6 , I64«! rge 
mere tool in the hands of the army, and met the demand 
that the king be brought to justice by appointing a court 
whose character left no doubt as to the result. Charles was 
condemned to death as a tyrant, traitor, murderer. He met 
his fate like a hero and a saint. 

" He nothing common did nor mean, 
Upon that memorable scene." 

PURITAN RULE. 

The death of the king was followed by the declaration of 

The Common- 
the Commonwealth. Monarchy and the House of Lords wealth. 

1649-lb60. 

were abolished, and their place was taken by an Executive 



210 The Growth of the English Nation. 

Council and the House of Commons. Power, however, be- 
longed with the army and its leader, and the history of the 
next ten years is the history of their attempt to rule Eng- 
land. The difficulties were almost insurmountable. A 
government was to be organized where there was no 
agreement as to principle. The ideals of Cromwell were 
not the ideals of the nation. Few cared for religious 
liberty, fewer still for republicanism. To allow the people 
to have their way meant to give up most of those things for 
which he had contended, and for that Cromwell was not 
ready. He was not, however, a despot by nature. Over 
and over again he attempted to secure the cooperation of 
the nation. The Rump, as the mutilated Long Parliament 
was called, had become corrupt and unmindful of its duty. 
Cromwell went down to the House, exasperated by its 
1653. dallying. "I will put an end to this," he cried. "It is 

not fit you should sit here any longer," and he bade his 
soldiers clear the hall. He did not wish to rule alone, but 
he dared not appeal to the nation ; a representative Parlia- 
ment would have been a royalist Parliament. So he called 
to his aid an assembly of "godly men to rule until the 
people were fitted to act." But his godly men were vision- 
aries and at once attempted • extravagant reforms. Crom- 
well had too much common sense not to see their mistakes, 
Barebone's so the Bare bones Parliament went the way of the Rump. 
Suecffrom' S ° Two more attempts were made by Cromwell to establish 
Barebone' 1 constitutional rule. Under the Instrument of Govern- 
£ondon rl ° r ment, the first of written constitutions, a protectorate 
was set up. Later, by giving the Protector the right to 
name his successor, and by creating a second House, a 
return was made to the forms of the ancient constitution. 
Both attempts failed. There was no unanimity of feeling ; 
the members quarreled as to the authority under which 
they were come together, the nation distrusted Cromwell 



The Stuarts and Puritanism. 



211 



and his system. Failure forced Cromwell back upon the 
army, the real mainstay of his power. But though his 
government was based upon force, there was not much 
violence or unnecessary severity. Provided his authority 
was respected, there was but little interference with in- 
dividual rights. True, the Royalists were taxed more 
heavily than others, but this was on the 
ground that their hostility made neces- 
sary a large and costly military estab- 
lisbmcnt. Toleration was the principle 
and, with some exceptions, the practice 
of Cromwell's government. " Our prac- 
tice . . . hath been to let all this 
nation see tbat whatever pretensions to 
religion would continue quiet, peaceable, 
they should enjoy conscience and liberty 
to themselves." At first there was no 
interference with the English Church, 
but within a short time Episcopalian 
worship was prohibited as tending to 
stir up disaffection. The proclamation, 
however, was not very rigorously enforced, and zealous 
worshipers continued to meet, only more privately. 

Less difficult and more successfully met were the ques- 
tions of foreign relations. From the first Cromwell adopted 
a vigorous policy which reflected the temper of the man ei s n relations. 
and the character of the times. Religious considerations 
as well as political interests determined England's attitude. 
A proposed alliance with France was arrested until all per- 
secution of Protestants had ceased, and war was waged 
with Spain, in part at least, because of her traditional posi- 
tion as the great Catholic power of Europe. On the other 
hand, religious sympathy could not keep peace between 
England and Protestant Holland, her great rival on the sea. 




A Gentlewoman. 



212 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



The Levelers, 
a party in the 
army of demo- 
cratic and 
socialist ten- 
dencies. 



Death of Crom- 
well. 1658. 



Commercial interests, in fact, were driving religious ques- 
tions into the background. In 1651 the Navigation Act was 
passed, the first of a long series of measures intended to 
build up English commerce. Its provisions forbade the 
importation of goods into England except in English ves- 
sels, and thus dealt a blow to the Dutch carrying trade. 
The result was a war with Holland in which the navy, led 
by Blake, gained many victories and laid the foundations 
of England's present maritime supremacy. On land as 
well as on sea the English were successful ; Cromwell's force 
and ability regained for England the place in Europe which 
she had won under Elizabeth and lost under James. 

The triumph of the Commonwealth abroad filled even 
its opponents with pride. Nor were grounds for some con- 
tentment lacking nearer home. Cromwell's rule was stern, 
but at least order was maintained. All risings whether of 
Royalists or Levelers were quickly quelled. Gradually the 
ravages of war were repaired, although ruined hall and 
mutilated church long bore testimony to the destructive 
work of the Ironsides. Taxation was heavy, but industry 
was not crushed, and the country seemed elastic under its 
burdens. Had Cromwell lived longer he might have 
effocted many improvements in the condition of the peo- 
ple. Reform of the law courts was a matter that he had at 
heart. The misrepresentation of the country under the ex- 
isting electoral system was an evil which he recognized and 
tried to meet. He attempted to equalize representation 
according to population, and he gave members to Scotland 
and Ireland. 

But Cromwell's work was done. He and his generation 
were hopelessly at odds. He was as far in advance of his 
age as Strafford was behind, and before him lay nothing 
but vexation and disappointment. Under the burden of 
care and anxiety his health gave way. A storm swept over 



The Stuarts and Puritanism. 



>13 




A Citizen's Wife. 



England as he lay dying. " The devil is fetching home the 
soul of the tyrant," said his foes ; but the man whom they 
hated was praying for friends and foes alike. " Lord, Thou 
hast made me, though very unworthy, a 
mean instrument to do them some good, 
and Thee service ; and many of them 
have set too high a value upon me, 
though others wish and would be glad of 
my death. Lord, however Thou do dis- 
pose of me, continue to go on to do good 
to them. . . . Teach those who look 
too much on Thy instruments, to depend 
more upon Thyself. Pardon such as de- 
sire to trample upon the dust of a poor 
worm, for they are Thy people too. And 
pardon the folly of this short prayer ; 
even for Jesus Christ's sake. And give 
us a good night, if it be thy pleasure. Amen." 

The days of the Commonwealth were numbered. Rich- 
ard Cromwell was made Protector, but he could not hope 

to succeed where his father had failed. Conflict arose be- 

Fall of the Com- 
tween the civil and military authorities. One Parliament monweaith. 

was expelled and another set up in its place. The nation 
was weary of army rule, and longed for a restoration of the 
old order, for a return of the old line. Negotiations were 
opened with the son of Charles I., living in exile. Vague 
promises of good government, of religious security, were 
eagerly accepted. The army, tricked and abandoned by its 
leaders, could do nothing. A Convention Parliament was 
hastily summoned which at once recalled Prince Charles, 
and on May 29, 1660, he entered London attended by re- 
joicing crowds. 

The Puritan rebellion had ended in apparent failure. In 
the contest against the despotism of the second Stuart, Par- 



214 The Growth of the English Nation. 

liament and the nation were victorious, but religious differ- 
ences aroused strife among the conquerors. The right cause 
triumphed with Cromwell, but it was based on force and 
found no response in the nation. The result was the re- 
action which we call the Restoration. The over-severity of 
the Puritans led to the shamelessness of society under the 
third Stuart. Toleration at the point of the sword ended in 
the penal code against dissent. The outcome of the execu- 
tion of Charles was the doctrine of non-resistance. Never- 
theless, Puritanism was far from dead. The spirit that 
found expression in the writings of Milton and Bunyan 
left an impress on the national character that might be for 
a time obscured but never entirely effaced. 

THE RESTORATION. 

Charles II. The recall of the Stuarts did not mean that the nation 

1660-1685. wished to undo all that had been done ; the Convention 

Parliament contained many Presbyterians, and it insisted 
at first on a generous treatment of all who were con- 
cerned in the Rebellion, and especially that no one was to 
be "disquieted for difference of opinion which should not 
disturb the kingdom." But the tide of loyalty was rising 
fast. The Parliament called in 1661 was fired with devotion 

Declaration of to Church and king. Charles was granted what his father 
passive obedi- , . , . „, _, . , , 

ence: " i, a. never obtained, — a large revenue for life. It was declared 

and believe that there was no legislative power in Parliament without 

lawful upon the royal sanction, that the king was the rightful com- 

whateverto mander of all forces, and that it was unlawful for either 

take up arms . 

against the House to make war against the crown. 

kin 0- ." 

The religious zeal of Parliament was even more marked. 

Episcopacy was reestablished, and a stringent Act of Uni- 
formity was passed. From all clergymen and teachers the 
acceptance of everything in the Prayer Book was required, 
and as a result two thousand ministers were deprived of 
their charges. This was the first of along series of penal 



Five-Mile Act. 



The Stuarts and Puritanism. 215 

statutes directed against dissent, whether Catholic or Prot- 

estant. Officeholders in the towns were obliged to sub- Corporation 

Act. lbbl. 

scribe to the doctrine of passive obedience, and to take the 
sacrament according to the practice of the Anglican 
Church. Religious meetings of more than five persons conventicle 
outside the family were prohibited unless in accordance 
with the established forms. A third violation of this 
requirement was punished by transportation. Another 
measure was passed under conditions of peculiar infamy. 
The plague was raging in London, and the clergy had fled 
in a panic. The Dissenters, a far more earnest set of men, 
undertook the duties left unperformed, tending the sick and 
holding services. Parliament, at a safe distance in Oxford, 
where it had gone to avoid the plague, passed the Five-Mile 
Act, forbidding all clergymen who had not accepted the 
Act of Uniformity and the doctrine of passive obedience to 1665" 
teach school, or to come within five miles of any town or 
borough. 

The severity of this legislation against Dissenters was due 
in a measure to the influence of Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, 
once a leader in the Long Parliament, then the adviser clarendon, 
of Charles I., now the chief minister of his son. Claren- 
don's ideals were the ideals of the sixteenth century ; an 
Episcopal Church dependent upon the crown, power exer- 
cised without restraint by an enlightened and conscientious 
king. He repeated the mistake of Strafford in endeavoring 
to make of a Stuart a ruler after the Elizabethan type. 
Charles II. had far more tact and ability than his father, 
but, on the other hand, less principle, less earnestness of 
temper ; selfishness, love of pleasure, were the dominant 
notes in his character. At the outset of his reign he showed 
little ambition, but, surrounding himself with men of his 
kind, led a life of dissipation which made the court a 
national shame. It was folly to expect of such a king 



216 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



War with 
Holland. 

1665-1667. 



Charles and 
France. 



wisdom and conscientiousness. Inability to realize this 
was not, however, Clarendon's only mistake. He did not 
see that the situation abroad had changed. Alliance with 
France against Spain had been England's traditional policy 
for more than two generations. But the power of Spain 
was waning. France, under the ambitious leadership of 
Louis XIV., was now the menace to the peace and freedom 
of Europe. Blind to this change, Clarendon allowed Eng- 
land to become involved in a causeless war with Holland, 
whereas his true policy should have been to establish a 
close alliance between the two countries against France. 

The war itself was bad enough ; the manner of conduct- 
ing it was inexcusable. Money voted by Parliament for 
carrying on the contest was squandered by the king on his 
pleasures. Unpaid and half starved, the English sailors 
mutinied, while the Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames and 
held London in terror for weeks. A storm of indignation 
swept over the country. An opposition party was formed 
in Parliament clamoring for Clarendon's overthrow. 
Charles made little effort to save the minister whose seri- 
ous life he felt a constant restraint. Clarendon was 
impeached, but saved himself by flight to France. The 
crisis resulted in something more than the overthrow of 
the minister. In the revival of the long disused right of im- 
peachment the Commons had gained a powerful weapon. 
Moreover, the principle was established that supplies 
should not be diverted from the use for which they were 
voted, and that the national accounts should be subject to 
inspection. 

Clarendon's fall coincided with a certain change in the 
attitude of the king. It was not that he had become more 
desirous of playing the despot, but that he had learned that 
dependence upon Parliament hindered his freedom to do as 
he liked. He objected to interference in the expenditure of 



The Stuarts and Puritanism. 



217 




the court, to criticism of his manner of life. Moreover, 

although an avowed skeptic, his sympathies were with 

the Catholics, and he was sincere in his wish to relieve 

them ft-om the oppression 

of the penal laws. For 

these reasons it became his 

purpose henceforth to free 

himself from the restraint 

of Parliament. To gain his 

ends, outside assistance 

was necessary, and for this 

he looked to France. Louis 

met him more than half 

way. The result of their Charles II. and a Courtier. From a 

Scarce Print by Faithorne. 
negotiations was the secret 

Treaty of Dover. Louis was to give Charles aid in money 
and troops. In return the French and English were to Dover. 1670. 
enter into an alliance against Holland, and the Roman 
Catholic Church was to be established in England. 

This disgraceful treaty was kept a secret even from many 
of the royal ministers, but its effect at once became ap- 
parent. Parliament was prorogued, war was declared 
against Holland, although an alliance with that country 
had just been formed, and a Declaration of Indulgence was 
issued suspending the execution of the penal laws. This 
was primarily in the interest of the Catholics, but it was 
hoped it might win over the Dissenters. Its effect, however, 
was just the reverse. With unusual clear-sightedness, 
the latter saw the dangerous possibilities in allowing the 
crown such arbitrary power, and they were the first to 
appeal against the measure. In spite of the large sums 
received from France, need of money soon forced Charles 
to summon Parliament. The first act of the opposition, or 
" Country party," was to compel the king to withdraw 



218 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Test Act. 

1673. 



Earl of Danby, 
Lord Treas- 
urer and lead- 
ing minister. 
1673-1678. 



Popish Plot. 
1678. 



the Declaration. It next proceeded to pass the Test Act, 
requiring all who held any state office to take the sacra- 
ment according to the Anglican form, and to make a 
declaration against the doctrine of transubstantiation. 
One privilege after another was taken from all who dis- 
sented from the established Church. In turn the Church, 
the universities, municipal office, civil office, were closed 
to them. 

The course of affairs during the next few years seems con- 
fused and uncertain. The chief minister was Danby, whose 
views, on the whole, were those of Clarendon, save that 
he wished to renew the alliance with Holland. This 
meant war with France, and here he had the support of 
Parliament ; but Charles was bribed to keep peace. More- 
over, Parliament, much as it wanted war, hardly dared 
trust the king with an army. On the other hand, Louis 
doubted, and with reason, the good faith of his pensioner, 
and tried to hold him in check by intriguing with the 
leaders of the Country party. Peace on the Continent 
finally made ]Jouis independent of Charles' aid, and he 
took revenge for the double dealing with which he had 
been treated by revealing the whole miserable business. 
Wounded national pride called for vengeance. The king 
was inviolable, and vengeance fell upon Danby, his un- 
willing agent. In vain the minister pleaded the royal 
command ; the plea was set aside, and the principle 
asserted that a minister might not shield himself from 
responsibility behind the order of the sovereign. If the 
king could do no wrong, then some one must be made re- 
sponsible. 

The French disclosures and the fall of Danby came just 
at the time when the country was thrown into a panic 
by the discovery of the so-called Popish Plot. It was 
asserted that the papists had conspired to murder the 



The Stuarts and Puritanism. 219 

king and set up the Romish Church again. The story 
rested, on the almost unsupported statements of Titus 
Oates, a man of degraded character, once an Anglican 
clergyman, later a Jesuit priest. The whole country was 
beside itself with fright. Men went about armed, and the 
Commons passed a resolution " that this House is of 
opinion that there hath been and still is a damnable and 
hellish plot, carried on by papist recusants, for assassin- 
ating and murdering the king, for subverting the govern- 
ment, and rooting out the Protestant religion." Several 
peers were committed to the Tower and a number of Catho- 
lics were put to death. An act was passed disabling 
papists from sitting in either House. Excitement cul- Disabling Act. 
minated in the introduction of a bill excluding from the 16 ' s " 
succession the Duke of York, the heir to the throne, on 
the ground of his being a Catholic. To save his brother, 
Charles dissolved Parliament and prorogued the new assem- 
bly seven times before he dared face it. Signs of a re- 
action appeared. The country was sharply divided on the 
question of exclusion. It was at this time that the names 
of Whig and Tory first appeared. The opposition, those 
who led the attack on York, were called Whigs, while appWecfto'the 6 

Covenanters 
the supporters of the crown received the name of Tory, of the west of 

When Parliament met again, the Exclusion Bill was still the cry of ! ° m 
pressed, but it was plain that its supporters had overshot usedwlth"' 
the mark. Their violence led to a revival of loyal feeling peasants 5 ^ e 
which was not yet spent when Charles suddenly died, 
acknowledging, as he had not before dared to do, his desire given fo D brig^ 
to be reconciled with the Roman Catholic Church. land. 

The guiding principle of Charles' policy was contained in 
his frequent remark, "Whatever else may happen, I have 
no wish to go again upon my travels." There was never 
fear that he would press a matter to the point of endanger- 
ing his crown, and, on the whole, the years of his reign 



220 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



James II. 

1685-1689. 



were marked by real constitutional progress. Charles made 
his ministers responsible to himself, but he did not prevent 
their being held responsible by Parliament. Moreover the 
establishment of Parliamentary parties was a long stride 
toward Parliamentary rule, though the principles upon 
which men divided were not yet clearly understood. 

The Stuart restoration coincided with the development 
in the English nation of intense feeling on certain subjects. 
An unreasoning devotion to the king and the Church was 
matched by an equally unreasoning fear and detestation of 
Puritans and Roman Catholics. Should ever these senti- 
ments come into conflict, it was a question which would 
gain the mastery. In the reign of James II. the answer 
was made plain. 

As a man James was more respectable than his brother, 
as a king he was more dangerous. In many ways he re- 
sembled his father. He 
had his lack of tact and 
pliability coupled with 
even less ability. James' 
aims were the aims of 
Charles II., to make him- 
self independent of Par- 
liament, to establish the 
Roman Catholic Church ; 
but his policy was differ- 
ent. Dependence on 
France was odious to 
him. If possible he 
would achieve his ends in some less humiliating way. 
If he could obtain from Parliament what he wanted, 
plenty of money, he would throw England in the scale 
against France. Or he would try to gain his point through 
an alliance with the Protestant non-conformists. Only 




Charles II. and his Queen. From 
Heath's Chronicle, 1662. 



The Stuarts and Puritanism. 221 

as a last resort would he become a pensioner of Louis. 

The first Parliament of the reign showed the effect of the 
recent reaction. It was strongly Tory, and readily granted 
the king a revenue for life ; it manifested, however, no will- 
ingness to repeal the Test Act and the Habeas Corpus Act, Habeas corpus 
the immediate object of James' desire. Nevertheless ^S|» Pf^ed to 
after the failure of an insurrection in favor of Monmouth, n C e rs e their nS " 
an illegitimate son of Charles II., who thought his Prot- trfed or uber- 
estantism would efface the bar sinister, James felt so sure ated * 
of the national temper that he proceeded to the execution 
of his plans. Catholics were put into office in defiance of 
the Test Act, and an attempt was made to form a standing 
army. But James had misunderstood popular feeling, and 
he found himself opposed on every point. Violent objec- 
tion was made to the increase of the army, petitions were 
pressed against any tampering with the Test Act, and only 
one half the supplies demanded by the king were granted. 

Defeated in his hopes of Parliamentary support, James 
fell back on certain powers of which he held himself 
possessed. He did not dare at first to dispense with the 
laws against the Catholics generally, but he made exceptions 
in individual cases. In this he was supported by the judges 
who were wholly under his control. Roman Catholics were 
placed in high offices in the Church and universities. He 
proceeded also with his plan of forming a standing army. 
Urged on by the Catholics around him he gained courage 
for a more sweeping measure, and issued a General Declara- 
tion of Indulgence which set aside all religious tests. At First Decia- 
.-, ,. 1.1. i. -, ration of In- 

the same time an attempt was made to secure a more diligence. 

compliant Parliament by remodeling the town charters 
and ordering the Lords-Lieutenant of the counties to 
send up lists of well-disposed men, Catholics or Dissen- 
ters. The only effect, however, was to increase dissatis- 
faction. Matters were brought to a crisis by the publica- 



222 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Second Decla- 
ration of In- 
dulgence. 
1688. 



Trial of the 
seven bishops. 



The Revolution 
of 1688. 



tion of a second Declaration of Indulgence which the clergy- 
were ordered to read from the pulpit. The excitement was 
intense. On the day set, but four of the London clergy 
attempted to comply with the royal command, and their 
congregations withdrew from the church as soon as they 
began to read. The Archbishop of Canterbury and six 
bishops had taken the lead in the resistance to the king, 
presenting a petition in which they begged to be excused 
from performing what they held to be an illegal act. On 
the ground that their petition was a seditious libel they 
were brought to trial. The nation watched the proceedings 
with feverish interest, and the verdict of acquittal was re- 
ceived with tumultuous rejoicings in which even James' 
army on Hounslow Heath joined. 

Nevertheless, matters had not taken a turn for the 
better. The nation had bided its time, enduring much for 
the sacred doctrine of non-resistance. It had hoped to see 
in time an end of its troubles, for James' only children 
were daughters and Protestants. But just at this junc- 
ture the queen gave birth to a son, and at once the 
aspect of affairs changed. The child was universally held 
to be supposititious, foisted upon the nation ; but, whatever 
the truth, he was presented as the heir to the throne, and 
he was sure to be brought up a Catholic. The day of the 
acquittal of the bishops, a letter signed by prominent 
men went to William of Orange, the husband of Princess 
Mary, asking him to come to the rescue of English liberty. 

William of Orange was the leading Protestant statesman 
of Europe. He had thrown himself heart and soul into 
the struggle against France. He saw the advantage of se- 
curing the aid of England. But the difficulties in the way 
were great ; English national feeling, Dutch jealousy, the 
opposition of his continental allies, were all to be met. 
The unbridled ambition of Louis and the boundless stu- 



The Stuarts and Puritantism. 223 

pidity of James combined to smooth the way. Europe was 
beginning to see that every nerve must be strained if a 
limit was to be set to Louis' aggressions. One by one, 
James drove all elements of the nation into opposition. 
He continued his attack on the Church and universities, 
and alienated the army by bringing over Irish Catholic 
forces. Tories and Whigs, Churchmen and Dissenters, 
country and town, all alike were brought to feel tbat politi- 
cal freedom, the Protestant faith, the national honor, were 
in danger so long as James wore the crown. William no 
longer hesitated. Before setting sail he issued a manifesto 
which summed up James' unconstitutional acts, and stated 
that as the husband of Princess Mary he proposed to go to 
England to secure a free and legal Parliament by whose de- 
cision he would abide. In spite of warnings, James had 
closed his eyes to what was passing. Forced at last to 
see his danger, he made concessions right and left. It was 
too late; one after another of the leading statesmen and 
generals abandoned him, even his own daughter Anne 
went over to William. At length, with the fate of his 
father before his eyes, he fled to France in disguise, and 
Parliament proceeded solemnly to declare that " King 
James Ilr, having endeavored to subvert the constitution of 
the kingdom by breaking the original contract between 
king and people, and by the advice of Jesuits and other 
wicked people having violated the fundamental laws, and 
having withdrawn himself out of the kingdom, had abdi- 
cated the government, and that the throne had thereby be- 
come vacant." In the place of James, William and Mary 
were formally called to rule over England. The devotion 
to the principle of passive obedience had given way before 
the determination of the people to preserve political free- 
dom and to defend the national Church. 



CHAPTER X. 



Parties and Party Government. 



Revolution 
of 1688. 



Its results. 



Illustrative Readings. 
Esmond; Thackeray. 
The Four Georges; McCarthy. 
Macaulay's Essays on Chatham 

and Pitt. 
Burke; Morley. 

Important Dates. 
1693-1694, The Whig Junto. 
1701, Act of Settlement. 
1701, Death of James II. 



1707, Union of England and Scot- 
land. 

1715, Jacobite Rising. 

1721-1742, Walpole's Ministry. 

1745, Rising of the Young Pre- 
tender. 

1757-1761, Pitt's Ministry. 

1763, Peace of Paris. 

1770-1782, North's Ministry. 

1783, The Coalition Ministry. 

1783-1801, Pitt's Ministry. 

1793, War with France. 



Genealogical Table. 



GEORGE I.. 
1711-1727. 

George II., 
1727-1760. 

Frederick, 
Prince of Wales. 

George III., 

1760-1820. 



George IV., 
1820-1830. 



William IV., 
1830-1837. 



Edward, 
Duke of Kent. 

Victoria, 

1837- 



The revolution of 1688 marks the overthrow of the 
Stuart theory of the divine right of kings, and the triumph 
of the Whig principle that the king reigns by the will of 
the people. In the place of a sovereign whose word was 
decisive was established a supreme Parliament, the repre- 
sentative of the nation ; government by prerogative gave 
way to the rule of law. The work was well done ; arbi- 
trary taxation and arbitrary legislation could never again be 

224 



Parties and Party Government. 225 

attempted. Little, in fact, was left for the next century to 
do except to adapt the machinery of government to the 
new controlling principles. Complete, however, as was 
the revolution, it was nevertheless essentially conserv- 
ative. The extravagances of the Rebellion had made 
men cautious. All unnecessary change was deprecated. 
Nothing was attacked that could safely be retained. In 
sharp contrast with the earlier movement was also the 
peaceful character of the Whig Revolution. Without 
bloodshed, with but little excitement, a king was deposed 
and another ruler set in his place and the whole conception 
of the government changed. Three documents sum up the 
achievements of 1688. In the simple, restrained language 
of the Bill of Rights, the fundamental principles of English Bill of Rights 
freedom were reaffirmed, the power and privileges of Par- Leaflets*' 1 ^ 
liament were reasserted, the royal prerogative was denied, §o n i9 alSeneS ' 
the rights of the subject over life, liberty, and property 
were maintained. By the same measure, supplemented by 
the Act of Settlement, the succession was determined, and ^entf S i70if" 
henceforth all rulers of England must base their claims to 
the crown on Parliamentary statutes. Without the aid of 
the Dissenters the overthrow of James could not have been 
accomplished ; it was impossible to disregard their claims, 
and in 1689 the Toleration Act was passed, giving to all Toleration Act. 
Protestants liberty of worship. It was not a generous 
measure ; toleration, not equality, was granted ; much of 
the penal legislation of Charles II. was still in force, and 
nothing was done for the Catholics. 

Within a few weeks the revolution was accomplished ; to 
carry into effect what had been gained was the work of a 
century. The natural consequence of the supremacy of 
Parliament was Parliamentary control of the executive, 
the transformation of the ministers of the king into 
national ministers responsible to the people, not to the 



226 The Groivth of the English Nation. 

sovereign, and all-powerful if secure of popular support. 
This was not at first realized. Still less was the means of 
bringing about the change understood. More than a cen- 
tury of blind, stumbling experiment was necessary to 
secure the establishment of cabinet government, that is, 
government by ministers holding the same political views, 
acting as a unit, in harmony with the prevailing party in 
the House of Commons, standing or falling, not at the 
pleasure of the king, but in accordance with the will of 
the nation as expressed through its representatives. 

Nor was the principle of party organization as a con- 
trolling political force yet understood, still less its im- 
portance as a basis for ministerial rule. Parties existed, 
but not party government. To overturn the despotism of 
James, Whigs and Tories had cooperated heartily ; but 
success at once brought out differences of opinion. Al- 
though determined to reign constitutionally, William had 
no mind to become a mere figure-head, and he naturally 
inclined to the Tory party with its more liberal views of 
the royal prerogative. On the other hand, gratitude and 
self-interest bound him to the Whigs who had placed him 
on the throne. He attempted, therefore, to rule by the 
support of both parties, including in his ministry Whigs 
and Tories. The impracticability of this was not at first 
realized, but the friction that it caused soon became ap- 
parent. Quarrels ensued. Accusations of inefficiency and 
corruption were raised. Parliament did nothing to better 
the situation, for neither party felt responsible for the 
government. In the House of Commons there was no 
assured majority. One day so many Whigs would be off 
at tennis or a cock-fight that the Tories had everything 
their own way, but the following day conditions might be 
reversed. " Nobody," it was said, "can know one day what 
a House of Commons will do the next." It was the work 



Parties and Party Government. 227 

of the Earl of Sunderland, once the counselor of James, 
now William's warm supporter, to suggest a remedy for 
these disorders. Acting under his advice, the king formed 
his ministry from the Whig party alone, in the belief that 
by this means political responsibility might be fixed, and a 
stable support secured. This Whig Junto, as it was called, 
was of importance in that it was based on the admission 
that not royal favor, but the cooperation of the Commons 
was essential to the success of the ministry. Moreover, it 
was the first recognition of the principle that this coopera- 
tion could be best secured through a ministry acting as a 
unit in representing the dominant opinions of the House. 

For twenty years after the Revolution, England's rela- 
tions with the Continent controlled partv politics. William France. 

r " r War of the 

accepted the English crown that he might throw England English Suc- 

° cession, 1689- 

inio the scales against France. Anne, his successor, was 1697 - 

War of the 

completely under the influence of Marlborough, the great Spanish Suc- 
* J & 7 e. cession, 1702- 

military leader, and he was bent on continuing the strug- i 713 - 

gle. The Whigs gave to the contest with Louis XIV. their 

° ° ° Whigs and 

hearty support. On the other hand, opposition to the war Tories at the 

^ ix rr beginning of 

became more and more a part of the Tory policy. On the eighteenth 



"Wars with 



Church questions, also, the two parties divided sharply ; 
toleration was a cardinal Whig principle, while the Tories 
insisted on maintaining the oppressive laws against dis- 
sent. After the death of William the two great parties 
divided on dynastic questions also. The Whigs were bent 
on maintaining the Act of Settlement and the claims 
of the House of Hanover, while the opposing party sup- 
ported more or less openly the Jacobite cause, and were 
forming plans for a second Stuart restoration. Their calcu- 
lations were upset, however, by the unexpected death of 
Anne, and, before they could act, the energy of the Whig 
leaders had secured the throne to the Elector of Hanover. 
The accession of George I. meant the establishment of 



century. 



228 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



George I. 
1714-1727. 



George II. 
1727-1760. 



Parliament in 
the eighteenth 
century. 



Whig ascendency for forty-five years. A pretender across 
the water, supported by a strong element among the peo- 
ple, forced the earlier Hanoverians to lean upon the party 
that placed them on the throne and to accept its principles. 
Both George I. and his son, foreign in interest and unable 
to understand English politics, were content to leave every- 
thing to the Whig leaders. They were the real rulers of 
England. But behind the ministry stood a supreme Parli- 
ament, and in Parliament power lay with the Commons. 
Moreover, the course of events since the Revolution had 
shown that in case of opposition between the two Houses, 
the Lords would have to give way. Apparently the 
triumph of the people was complete. 

The supremacy of Parliament over the executive did not, 
however, imply government by the people. The Revolu- 
tion of 1688 had in fact resulted in the establishment of a 
kind of aristocratic republic where a few great families 
ruled the nation in the name of a king who was a mere 
figure-head, and by the authority of a Parliament which 
they systematically corrupted. Power had been acquired 
without a corresponding increase of responsibility. De- 
bates were secret, division lists were never published, public 
opinion could exert but little influence. Moreover, the 
electoral system was such that the House in no wise repre- 
sented the nation. In the counties there had been no 
change in the franchise since the time of Henry VI. The 
manner of holding land had been modified and new forms 
of property had come into existence, but the electors 
were still the forty-shilling freeholders. The condition of 
the towns was far worse. Many had fallen under the con- 
trol of the corporations, and the right of voting was 
limited to a mere handful of the inhabitants. In others all 
sorts of anomalous franchises existed. In Weymouth, for 
example, the title to any share of certain ancient rents 



Parties and Party Government. 229 

constituted the qualification for voting. The report of a 
commission of inspection showed that several electors voted 
by right of their claim to an undivided twentieth part of 
a sixpence. For generations there had been no reappor- 
tionment of seats. Population had shifted without a cor- 
responding change of representation. Much injustice was 
the result. Lancashire, with nearly one and a half million 
inhabitants, had fourteen representatives ; Cornwall's three 
hundred thousand inhabitants returned forty-four mem- 




The Election. Canvassing for Votes. Hogarth. 

bers. Great cities like Birmingham and Manchester were 
unrepresented, while old Sarum, with but one house, and 
Dunwich, which had disappeared under the waves of the 
North Sea, still returned their two members. It was a 
system of "represented ruins and unrepresented cities." 
Such a condition of things naturally invited corruption. 
Many of the towns were " pocket" or nomination boroughs 
controlled by some neighboring noble or landowner. 
Others were put up publicly for sale, the customary price 



230 The Growth of the English Nation 

being about £4,000. Contested elections wben they oc- 
curred involved the expenditure of immense sums of 
money. One Yorkshire election cost nearly £150,000. 
Under this condition of things, systematic bribery seemed 
the only means of securing party success or of giving 
stability to the government. Corruption began with the 
meanest voter and ended in the cabinet. Large sums were 
expended in the purchase of seats. Places and pensions 
and titles were the rewards held out to the supporters of 
the administration. In the first Parliament of George I., 
two hundred and seventy-one of the members held offices 
or pensions. One of the most arduous duties of the minis- 
ters was the disposal of the secret service funds. At one 
time an office was established at the Treasury for the pur- 
chase of members, and more than twenty thousand pounds 
are said to have been spent in a single day. The example 
of the government was followed by all the great lords. 
Careful estimates showed that at least three fifths of the 
members of the House were returned by the crown and one 
hundred and sixty-two private individuals. 

Bv no one was this system of corruption so well under- 
Walpole's 
Ministry. stood or so successfully applied as by Sir Robert Walpole, 

1721-1742. 

the great Whig minister. He came into power soon after 
the accession of George I., and with statesmanlike appre- 
ciation of the situation took for the keynote of his policy 
"peace at home and abroad." All agitation was discour- 
aged, the most needed reforms were left unconsidered. 
"Better let sleeping dogs lie," was Walpole's maxim. 
For almost twenty years this policy was pursued. A 
spirit of apathy seemed to have seized upon the country, 
but, in reality, the nation was making good what it had 
gained by the overthrow of the Stuarts. The ascendency 
of the Whigs during these years was undisputed, for the 
Tories, linked to a lost cause, were hopelessly discredited 



Parties and Party Government. 231 

with the nation. Success and long tenure of power brought 

out, however, elements of opposition within the dominant 

party. Personal feeling, dislike of Walpole's methods, 

dissatisfaction with his persistent peace policy, combined 

to form the party of " Patriots." Their efforts ended in the 

overthrow of Walpole and the reversal of his foreign policy. 

Politically, however, there was but little change. Walpole's war with 

Spain. 17c 
War with 
France. 1744. 



methods were the methods of his successors. The same war with 



clique of great families controlled the government ; politics 
were dominated by corruption, reforms were frowned down. 
But a change was at hand. In 1756 the Seven Years' 
War broke out. England could not safely hold aloof, 
in fact ever since 1748 her colonies had been waging a 
desultory war with the French. It soon became ap- 
parent, however, that she was in no condition to fight. 
A storm of indignation greeted the revelation of min- 
isterial incompetence. At this critical moment there came 
forward a man capable of inspiring the nation with courage 
for the contest, William Pitt, one of the Young Patri- 
ots. " I know that I can save this nation, and that 
nobody else can," he declared. Disliked by king and Ministry of 
politicians, he leaned not upon the House, but upon the 1 iam 
nation, and his summons to the control of affairs meant 
the triumph of the popular will. His statesmanlike views 
and brilliant oratory, no less than the integrity of his 
character and the ardor of his patriotism, won the devotion 
of England. He breathed a new spirit into the adminis- 
tration. The army and navy were reorganized and sup- 
plies were raised. Under the inspiration of the " Great 
Commoner," England was winning victories from India to 
America when the king suddenly died. During his life 
George II. had had little influence on the government, but 
his death marks an epoch in England's constitutional 
development. For more than forty years the Whigs had 



232 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Rising of the 
Highlanders in 
support of the 
Young Pre- 
tender. 



George III. 

1760-1820. 



been in control. Long tenure of power had brought the 
usual results, corruption and neglect of public interest. 
Politics meant little more than a greedy scramble for office. 
The Whigs had done a great work in defending religious 
and political freedom against the House of Stuart, they 
had remained true to the principles of 16S8, under their 
rule persecution had ceased, justice had been adminis- 
tered, the supremacy of Parliament had been established ; 
but they had ceased to be a party of progress. Demands 
for reform met with no response, the needs of the many 
were lost sight of in the interests of the few. 

Just at the moment when the country was growing 
weary of Whig rule, the Tories, after years of political 
insignificance, reappeared, organized on a new basis, in- 
spired by different principles. So long as Toryism meant 
Jacobitism, its revival was out of the question ; the nation 
was too strongly Protestant and Hanoverian to favor a 
Stuart restoration. But Jacobitism came to an end in 1745, 
with the failure of a third attempt to bring back the 
Stuarts. In the writings of Bolingbroke, greatest of Tory 
thinkers, was furnished the basis of a purified, reorganized 
party. Under his inspiration the Tories were brought to 
accept the principles of the Revolution, and to support the 
Hanoverian rule while holding fast to the idea of authority 
as opposed to the Whig cry of liberty. In their opposition 
to the Whigs, they were sure of a leader in the young king. 
George III. had been trained by his mother in the spirit of 
Bolingbroke's Patriot King. His ideal was a strong mon- 
arch governing by his own will, but in the interest of the 
whole nation. He came to the throne with a carefully 
considered plan for overthrowing the Whig clique and 
ruling through ministers dependent upon his pleasure. 
Parties, he maintained, were at an end, and he purposed to 
act, not as a party leader, but as the head of the whole 



Parties and Party Government. 233 

nation. In this lie was sure of the support of the people to 
whom party government meant simply the domination of 
a few great families ruling in their own interest. The first 
ten years of his reign were spent in efforts to establish this 
policy. Supported by the nation in his Avar against the 
Whigs, and aided by divisions in the party, George soon 
succeeded in driving Pitt from power and in appointing 
ministers dependent upon himself. He discovered, how- 
ever, that the nation, while willing to strengthen the 
crown against the Whigs, acted in the interests of a more 
popular government, and was far from accepting his views 
of the royal functions. The Bute ministry was soon over- 
thrown, and for a short time the Whigs were again in 
power. But the illness of Pitt and the rise of the Ameri- 
can question gave George a second opportunity of putting 
his plans into execution. What he before attempted in 
alliance with the nation he now accomplished with the 
support of the Tory party. In 1770 a Tory ministry under 

Lord North was established, and for the next twelve years North's Minis- 
try. 1770-1782. 
George "ruled as well as reigned." The national policy 

was the king's policy, the ministers were his agents, Par- 
liament was his tool. Bribery was carried to lengths here- 
tofore unknown. Preferment in Church or State was made 
the reward of political usefulness, and loss of office followed 
refusal to support the royal policy. George did not disdain 
to make use of his direct personal influence to gain his 
ends. In a letter to Lord North he wrote in reference to a 
recent vote in Parliament, " I wish a list could be prepared 
of those that went away and those that deserted to the 
minority. This would be a rule for my conduct in the 
drawing-room to-morrow." By such means the king com- 
manded a steady majority. Royal authority was based on 
a Parliament which was bought and sold. 

The attempt of the nation to throw off the domination 



234 The Growth of the English Nation. 

of the landed aristocracy had ended in the triumph of the 
king and a policy of repression. All popular movements 
were put down ; Parliamentary reform at home, self-govern- 
ment in the colonies, were met by determined opposition. 
George was willing to govern in the interest of the people, 
but he was not willing that they should govern themselves. 
On the whole, the royal policy met with little resistance. 
The American war was at first popular with the mass of 
the people. Commercial interest and national pride were 
enlisted on the side of the king. To many of the opposi- 
tion party, however, the question appeared in a different 
light. Exclusion from power was transforming the Whigs 
into a party of reform. Pitt and his following had long 
called attention to the defects of the Parliamentary and 
administrative system, but in vain ; the Whigs felt no need 
of change so long as they were in control. Now, however, 
they realized the evils of court influence when used against 
themselves, they saw the need of reforms which might 
turn to their advantage. In the resistance of the colonists 
their own interests were at stake ; triumph of the royal 
policy in America meant its firm establishment in England. 
Accordingly, under the vigorous leadership of Burke and 
Pitt, now Earl of Chatham, they made the cause of the 
revolted colonies their own, at the same time giving a 
steady support to every demand for reform. For a time 
they could make but little headway against the general 
approval of the war and the apathy of the masses. But 
failure in America and the heavy burden of taxation 
changed the current of feeling. Moreover, the struggle 
of the colonists for liberty had not been without effect 
in arousing Englishmen to the evils of their own system of 
government. The reform movement assumed formidable 
dimensions. Great meetings were held throughout the 
country with the intention of bringing public opinion to 



Parties and Party Government. 235 

bear on Parliament. Petitions demanding reform in the 
administration, and signed by thousands, were presented in 
the House. One measure after another was brought for- 
ward. Burke introduced his celebrated measure for eco- 
nomic reform, and a bill to deprive revenue officers of their 
votes was followed by another demanding the exclusion of 
contractors from the House. The Duke of Richmond Richmond's 
brought in a motion for Parliamentary reform, asking for torai reform, 
annual Parliaments, manhood suffrage, and equal electoral 
districts. Finally, a startling resolution was carried to the 
effect " that the influence of the crown was increased, is 
increasing, and ought to be diminished." It was plain 
that the royal policy had failed. Before the combined 
pressure of defeat in America and demand for reform at 
home, the king was forced to give way. Lord North re- 
signed and the Whigs returned to power. But the treaties 
which closed the war were mismanaged, control of the 
government cooled the desire for reform. The hostility of 
the king and the dissatisfaction of the nation soon brought 
about the downfall of the new ministry. In its place was 
set up a coalition ministry, an "unholy combination" of 
Lord North and Fox, the leader of the progressive wing of The Coalition 
the Whigs. Popular indignation was aroused at an alliance 
formed apparently for the sole purpose of securing power. 
The king led the attack upon the coalition, and, regardless 
of the fact that it had the support of the House of Com- 
mons, turned it out and called upon William Pitt, a sou of 
the Great Commoner, to form a ministry. Pitt, although 
only twenty-four, had already made his mark in the House. 
He had none of the fire of his father, but his tact and 
sagacity were unerring. A tremendous struggle ensued. 
It was the king, Pitt, and the nation against the coalition 
and Parliament. On one vote after another Pitt was de- 
feated, but he maintained his place, declaring with truth 



236 The Growth of the English Nation. 

that the House did not represent the nation. The contest 
ended in Pitt's triumph and the establishment of the royal 
policy until the conclusion of the reign. 
Pitt, however, was too strong to be a tool as North had 

Pitt's Ministry. . , . 

1871-1801. been, and so long as he remained m power his was the 

1801-1806. 

guiding mind in English affairs. He might act under 
royal authority, accepting the Tory doctrine that to the 
king belonged the choice of ministers, but nevertheless he 
preserved a large measure of independence. He had en- 
tered public life a Whig, his policy was liberal, and he 
should have received the support of the Whigs ; lacking 
that, he leaned more and more on the Tory party. Insen- 
sibly his views were modified by his relations with the 
king and by his party associations. Nevertheless he still 
favored reform and introduced a bill which, however, was 
not thoroughgoing and which recognized the right of prop- 
erty in a seat in the House of Commons. The measure 
was defeated, for the demand for reform was subsiding ; 
there was even yet very little intelligent public interest in 
the subject. Pitt's especial ability lay in finance. He met 
the national evil of smuggling by lowering the customs. 
The falling off in revenue he made good through an excise. 
Careful management turned the deficit into a surplus which 
was applied to paying off the national debt. Pitt also 
attempted, although without success, to give to Ireland the 
commercial freedom which would have done so much to 
disarm rebellion. 
All things pointed to a period of cautious reform when 
1789° D ' suddenly the country was startled by the outbreak of the 

French Revolution. At first public opinion was divided. 
To the timid and conservative the rising of the French 
people meant the complete overthrow of the established 
order, the beginning of anarchy ; but by many progressive 
Englishmen it was hailed with enthusiasm. The excesses 



Parties and Party Government. 237 

of the Reign of Terror, however, turned the current of 
feeling. Men recoiled from deeds so un-English, and the 
champions of popular liberty were silenced. The attacks 
of the French were directed against the crown and the 
privileged classes. In England, as a result, the Tories, the 
king's party, became the champions of vested interests. 
The clergy, the aristocracy, the wealthy middle classes 
rallied around the king in defense of privilege and prop- 
erty. The cause of reform received a fatal blow. Burke, 
once the advocate of political progress, became now the 
mouthpiece of reaction, and in his "Reflections on the 
French Revolution" issued the manifesto of a crusade 
against democracy. The opposition dwindled to a mere 
handful. Fox's following numbered only sixty, a hopeless 
minority. It became, however, what it had never been 
before, a party of popular reform ; but it had little influ- 
ence in politics, it could scarcely obtain a hearing. The 
propagandist attitude of the French revolutionists aroused 
a panic of alarm in England. The abolition of monarchy 
and the execution of Louis XVI. at length determined the 
government to join hands with royalist Europe in an 
attack on the new republic. At the outset this was a war 
against opinion, and men might honestly doubt its justice. 
When the republic was transformed into an empire with 
conquest as its watchword, it became a struggle of self- 
defense and the nation threw itself heart and soul into the 
contest. It was in the beginning a Tory -war, and its con- 
tinuance meant the continuance of Tory ascendency. 
More and more the party became an aristocratic party, 

actuated by motives of class aggrandizement, incapable of 

Grey's motion 

looking at public affairs except from a class point of view, for Parliamen- 
tary reform 

Every popular movement was repressed. Motions for Par- thrown out by 

, a vote of 232 to 

liamentary reform were thrown out by large majorities, 41 in 1793, of 256 

J ' to 91 in 1797. 

freedom of speech and of the press was abridged, public 



1793. 



238 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Irish Rebellion. 

1798. 



Act of Union. 
1800. 



meetings were prohibited. The chronic discontent of the 
Irish gave opportunity for French interference. A rising 
in 1798 was cruelly repressed by the English government, 
and led to the Act of Union, carried in 1800, in face of the 
opposition of the "whole unbribed intellect of Ireland." 
Everywhere a policy of high-handed repression was pur- 
sued. For twenty years all progress was checked, and the 
prospect of reform, so bright in 1780, seemed, thirty years 
later, hopelessly deferred.* More than a century had 
elapsed since the overthrow of the Stuart despotism but 
England had apparently made no advance toward popular 
government. Parliament was the agent of the classes, the 
king could still impose his will upon the nation. Never- 
theless, much had been gained. In the organization of 
parties and the development of the cabinet, governmental 
forms had been established, well fitted to give effect to the 
will of the people and to make possible successful demo- 
cratic rule. 

*From 1688 to 1815, the country was involved in seven great wars. 
Only sixty-two years, or less than half the whole period, were exempt. 

War of the English Succession, 1689-97 costf 32,643,764 

War of the Spanish Succession, 1702-13 cost 50,684,956 

War of the Austrian Succession, 1739-48 cost 43,655,192 

Seven Years' War, 1756-63 cost 82,623,738 

War of American Independence, 1776-83 cost 97,599,496 

The Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815 cost 831,446,449 

Total cost £1,138,653,595 



CHAPTEE XI. 

Growth of Democracy. 

Illustrative Readings. Sir Robert Peel, progressive Tory, 

Adam Bede ; George Eliot. 1841-1846. 

Alton Locke ; Kingsley. Lord Russell > Libera1 ' 1846 - 1852 " 

Coningsby ; Disraeli. Lord Derb ^ Conservative, 1852. 

Locksley Hall ; Tennyson. Lord Aberdeen, Whig and Peelite 
Locksley Hall Seventy Years coalition, 1852-1856. 

Aftpr Lord Palmerston, Liberal, 1855- 

John Halifax, Gentleman ; Miss 18 ° 8, 
Mulocb Lord Derby, Conservative, 1858- 

1859. 
The Sovereigns. Lord Palmerston, Liberal, 1859- 

George IV., 1820-1830. 1865 - 

William IV., 1830-1837. Lord Russell, Liberal, 186.5-1866. 

Victoria 1837- Lord Derby, Conservative, 1866- 

1868. 

The Prime Ministers. Mr> Gladstone, Liberal, 1868-1874. 

Lord Liverpool, Tory, 1812-1827. Mr. Disraeli, Conservative, 1874- 
Mr. Canning, progressive Tory, 1880. 

1827. Mr. Gladstone, Liberal, 1880-1886. 

Duke of Wellington, Tory, 1828- Lord Salisbury, Conservative, 

1830. 1886^1893. 

Lord Grey, Whig, 1830-1834. Mr. Gladstone, Liberal, 1893-1894. 

Lord Melbourne, Whig, 1835-1841. Lord Rosebery, Liberal, 1894- 

Nineteenth century England, has undergone a political 
revolution no less significant than that achieved under the 
Stuarts. This transformation might rather be termed an 
evolution than a revolution, since it has been wrought out, 
not by civil war and the overthrow of kings, but by the 
more peaceful and permanent method of Parliamentary 
legislation reenforced by public opinion. The great re- 
forms of the present century would have been impossible mentary grant 

but for the quickened intelligence and increased influence schools, 1833. 

School attend- 
of the common people. Industrial betterment and popular ance required 
^ ^ ^ ^ of all children, 

education have inspired tbe masses with new purposes 1870. 

239 



First Parlia- 



240 The Growth of the English Nation. 

and larger aspirations. Never, perhaps, since the fourteenth 
century has the English nation been stirred to hopes so 
eager and far-reaching. 

The democratic movement in England has gathered 
animus from the popular revolutions that have three times 
in the past hundred years convulsed the Continent. In 
1789, in 1830, and again in 1848, have king, clergy, and 
aristocracy been called to account by the people, and bidden 
show cause why they should monopolize wealth and place 
and power. In France, in Spain, in Italy, Belgium, and 
Germany, the old order so challenged could make but a 
lame defense. Overcome by superior 
strength, the privileged classes made un- 
limited concessions to the demos whom 
they could no longer control — concessions 
which were, however, quickly recalled 
when, the strength of the people being 
spent, the forces of reaction were again 
dominant. In every continental state, 
political progress has been spasmodic — 
epochs of rapid advance being followed by 
intervals of retrogression. England, on 
the other hand, remote from Jacobin 
passion and exempt from the devastating wars that 
troubled the Continent, was left free to develop along 
uatural lines. The conservative temper of the people 
deterred them from rash innovations, while the real 
services rendered by the aristocracy to their dependents 
mitigated the bitterness of class antagonism. Without 
revolution, almost without bloodshed, without violent 
breach with the old order, England has achieved a govern- 
ment which is a juster expression of the national will than 
that of France. The best of the medieval constitution has 
been conserved and adapted to the needs of the present day. 




Growth of Democracy. 



241 



The first effect produced by the French Revolution on Influence of 
English thought was a strong aversion to the political ^y^f^ 
philosophy that could give birth to such horrors. A wave 1789 - 95 - 
of reaction passed over England, discrediting progressive 
statesmen and sweeping all reform, projects into oblivion. 
But England could not long remain ignorant of the deeper 
significance of that tremendous revolt of a people against 
its tyrants. France was indeed conquered in 1815, and the 
Bourbons restored, but the great achievements of the Revo- 
lution were not undone. Just laws and a liberal constitu- _ _ 

Influence of the 

tion were secured to the people by the very monarchs who Napoleonic 

1 r J J wars. 

had undertaken the war in behalf of Louis XVI. During 1793-1815. 

this same twenty years, the cause 
of English liberty had lost much 
and gained nothing. Absorbed 
in the long struggle with Napo- 
leon, the Tory ministers had 
given little thought to the 
national well-being. Enthusiasm 
for the war, pride in its trium- 
phant conclusion and in the new 
prestige acquired by England, 
the champion of oppressed 
nationalities, together with a cer- 
tain fictitious prosperity accru- 
ing to trade and manufactures, 
had blinded men's eyes to the 
heavy cost of the conflict. Peace 
once declared, the nation began 
to balance accounts. The war 

debt amounted to £831,000,000. The financial stringency 
was such that the Bank of England suspended specie pay- 
ment, and for twenty-two years the country had to be con- 1797-1819. 
tent with a depreciating currency. The consequent rise in 




Extinction of Napoleon. 



242 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Price of wheat 
rose to 171s. a 
quarter, or 85 
a bushel, in 
1812 and 1813. 
None might be 
imported un- 
der 80s. a quar- 
ter. 



prices was exaggerated by the failure of trade with the 
Continent and by a series of bad harvests which brought 
corn up to famine rates. The Corn Laws, which protected 
English agriculture against foreign competition, were 
vigorously maintained by the landlord class who secured 
the lion's share of the profits. The prosperity of the land- 
lord and the farmer was not shared, however, by the agri- 
cultural laborer who, during these years of extraordinary 




Napoleon in Chains following Britannia's Triumphal Car. 

prices, was steadily sinking into misery and want. Wages 
fell below the subsistence level and had to be supplemented 
from the poor rates. At the moment when England 
attained the acme of her military renown, her laboring 
people were being reduced to pauperism. 

National glory won at such a cost was not cause for con- 
gratulation. Men were found bold enough to assert that 
while pursuing a crusade against Jacobin violence, Eng- 
land allowed more hateful cruelties to pass unchallenged 
within her own boundaries. Might not one cherish the 
watchwords proclaimed by the Revolution— liberty, equal- 
ity, fraternity — while condemning its mad excesses? A 
revulsion of feeling characterized the second and third de- 
cades of the nineteenth century. The writers of the day 
were the first to recognize that the revolutionary ideals 
were far in advance of English conceptions of justice and 
right. Wordsworth, the poet of the people, had greeted 



Growth of Democracy. 



243 



with rapture the birth of democracy in France, but the See Brown- 
violence of the Jacobins filled him with such despair as to L ^ t s Leader " 
chill his faith in the ability of the people for self-govern- 
ment. Shelley's democratic idealism, could, however, 
ignore the ugly facts of the Eevolution. Byron, an aristo- 
crat by birth and temper, but at war with his order, struck 




A Short Way with Corn Merchants. 



telling blows for freedom in his wild revolt against conven- 
tion and dogma, while Burns, the Ayrshire plowman, 
voiced the people's protest against class inequalities : 

" For a' that and a' that, 
Our toil"s obscure, and a' that, 
The rank is but the guinea's stamp, 
The man's the gowd for a' that." 

Democracy had yet more strenuous advocates in the 

The Radical 

Radicals. The radical movement originated with Cobbett's party. 

Name as- 

" Weekly Political Register," a twopenny sheet that had sumed in 1819. 

a wide circulation and enormous influence among the 
working classes. The " Register " voiced the prevailing dis- 
content, and proposed reforms aiming to give the people 
more effective control of the government. Redistribution 
of the representation, universal suffrage, and annual Parlia- 
ments were presented as the necessary steps toward the 



244 



The Growth of the JSnglish Nation. 



The Hampden 
clubs. 



The conven- 
tion was held 
in St. .Peter's 
Field. 



vindication of the popular will. In order that the unrepre- 
sented people might make their purpose felt, mass meetings 
were held, secret associations were formed, and propagand- 
ist literature scattered far and wide. The government, 
unreasonably suspicious of any popular movement, de- 
termined to crush the 
malcontents. A polit- 
ical demonstration at 
Spa Fields in 1816 was 
broken up by the po- 
lice.* Three years later, 
a convention held in 
Manchester for the pur- 
pose of electing a " legis- 
latorial representative " 
for that unenfranchised 
town, was raided by a 
military force and sev- 
enty persons were in- 
jured. The Manchester Massacre, or the Battle of Peterloo, 
as it was derisively called, roused intense indignation. It 
was becoming every year more evident that the govern- 
ment was quite independent of the people since Parliament 
represented only the aristocracy and the upper middle 
classes. 

The continental revolutions of 1830, which substituted 
constitutional for absolute monarchy in France and Bel- 
gium and several of the German states, produced a marked 
effect in England. They seemed to prove that fundamental 

* A placard was paraded at this meeting entitled "The present state 
of Great Britain." 
" Four millions in distress ! ! ! 

Four millions embarrassed ! ! ! 

One million and a half fear distress ! ! ! 

Half a million live in splendid luxury ! ! ! 

Our brothers in Ireland are in a worse state. 

The climax of misery is complete— it can go no farther. 

Death would now be a relief to millions." 




Tax Collectors. 



Growth of Democracy. 



245 



William IV. 
1830-1837. 



reforms could be accomplished without anarchy, and Eng- 
lishmen began to question whether, after all, their medie- 
val constitution might not safely be modified to suit modern 
needs. In the elections that followed immediately upon 
the death of George IV., the Liberals won a signal victory. 
The Tories lost fifty seats and Wellington was obliged to 
resign. Lord Grey, who was called to take his place, had 
been for forty years the stanch champion of Parliament- 
ary reform. A Reform Bill was framed by the ministry struggle for 

^ " Parliamentary 

and introduced in the House of Commons by Lord John reform. 

Russell (March 1, 1831). It provided 
for the disfranchisement of the rot- 
ten boroughs, the redistribution of 
seats among the counties and hith- 
erto unrepresented towns, and the 
extension of the borough franchise 
to all ten-pound householders. The 
bill was received with derisive 
cheers from the opposition benches 
and, though cordially endorsed by 
the king and maintained by all the 
influence the ministry could bring 
to bear, it was defeated on the third 

reading by a majority of eight. The government deter- 
mined to have recourse to the people. The dissolution of 
Parliament was declared by the king in person on April 
22d, and through May and June the country rang with the 
excitement of the campaign. The result was even better 
than the government had hoped. When the bill came 
again to its third reading (September 21), it passed the 
House by a majority of one hundred and nine. It had 
still, however, to run the gauntlet of the Peers. The Upper 
House did not deign to admit the bill to consideration, but 
threw it out on the first reading by a majority of forty-one. 




Cobbett on the Stump. 



246 



The Groivth of the English Nation. 



April 14, 1832. 



May 15, 1832. 



This haughty rejection of a measure which had the enthu- 
siastic support of the great majority of the nation by a 
privileged and non-representative body, roused intense in- 
dignation throughout the country. Political unions were 
formed with a view to bringing public opinion to bear upon 
the reactionary legislators. A 
reform program was announced, 
which went so far as to propose 
the abolition of all hereditary 
privileges and distinctions of 
rank. The Lords could not but 
be influenced by the popular 
agitation, violent and ill-advised 
though it sometimes was. When 
the new Reform Bill came up 
for its second reading in the 
House of Lords, the ministry 
succeeded in obtaining a major- 
ity of nine. A motion to post- 
pone final action, was, neverthe- 
less, carried. Driven to extremities, Lord Grey appealed 
to the king to swamp the opposing majority by the 
creation of Peers. This was refused and the ministry 
resigned. An attempt to form a Conservative cabinet 
under the Duke of Wellington failed. The popular protest 
was overwhelming. The Liberal papers came out in 
mourning and petitions were sent up to Parliament 
signed by thousands of the unrepresented. The unions 
announced their determination to march to London in 
numbers sufficient to compel regard for the nation's will. 
Wellington dared not resort to force. The military could 
not be trusted to fight against the people. Finally the 
king recalled Lord Grey and sent a circular letter to 
the Peers requesting them to withdraw their opposition. 




"Orator " Hunt. 
A leading radical. 



Growth of Democracy. 247 

So compelled, the House of Lords approved the bill. June 4, 1832. 

The Reform Act was a signal triumph of the popular will 
over vested right and hereditary privilege. Fifty-six rotten Act of 1832. 
boroughs were disfranchised and thirty were deprived of 
one member each. The one hundred and forty-three mem- 
berships so vacated were divided between the more populous 
counties and thirty-nine unrepresented towns. Thus, after 
an interval of nearly two hundred years, the electoral 
reform proposed by Cromwell was resumed. Representa- 
tion was not yet, however, exactly proportioned to pop- 
ulation. Universal suffrage and annual Parliaments were 
not even broached ; but the people had got a foothold in 
the House of Commons and might bide their time. The 
Reform Act of 1832 transferred the balance of power from 
the landed aristocracy to the manufacturers and merchants 
— the dominant classes of newly enfranchised towns. The 
populace, though it had borne the brunt of the agitation, 
was not yet entrusted with the ballot. But fifty Radicals 
were returned to the new Parliament. With the change 
in the character of representation and the consequent 
change of policy, new party names were adopted. The 
Whigs, dominated henceforth by the progressive contin- 
gent, called themselves Liberals ; while the Tories, con- 
ceiving their function to be the preservation of a time-hon- 
ored constitution, preferred to be known as Conservatives. 

The reforms undertaken by the first Parliament elected 
on the new basis were directed by middle class interests 
and fell far short of popular expectation. An act was 
passed (1833) emancipating the slaves on the West Indian 
plantations, but with heavy compensation to their owners. 
The Poor Law was revised (1834) with a view to checking 
the growth of pauperism. The new act was based on the 
wholesome principles of the Elizabethan Law, but it was 
bitterly resented by the working classes accustomed, for a 



248 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



century past, to regard parish aid as a poor man's right. 
More popular measures, e. g., the Factory Act (1833) and 
the reform in municipal government (1835), were not ini- 
tiated in the House of Commons, but were forced upon its 
notice by public agitation. 

Beneficent and necessary as was much of this legislation, 
it did not remove the sense of grievance from the minds of 
the common people. They had supported the Reform Act 
in the hope that it was but the preliminary to more radical 
legislation. The bulk of the Liberal party was, however, 
well content with the results attained. Lord John Russell 
declared in the first Parliament convened after the acces- 
victoria. 1837. sion of Victoria that reform could not safely be pushed 
further. The disappointment and indignation of the Radi- 
cals was intense. Convinced that the people would never 
get their rights till they could send spokesmen to the 
House of Commons, they entered with renewed zeal upon 
a crusade for popular representation. A conference be- 
tween certain prominent Radicals and the working-class 
leaders was called in 1838, and a program for the new 
campaign agreed upon. The "six points " of the People's 
Charter were : (1) annual Parliaments, (2) manhood suf- 
frage, (3) vote by ballot, (4) the division of the country into 
equal electoral districts, (5) abolition of the property quali- 
fication for members of the Lower House, (6) salaries for the 
people's representatives. The Chartists, as the agitators 
called themselves, advocated Parliamentary reform only as 
means to an end. The exact nature of that end was as yet 
undefined. Socialistic, even anarchistic, schemes were in 
the air and awakened consternation among the propertied 
and order-loving classes. Malcontents, on the other hand, 
of whatever shade of belief, were naturally attracted to the 
ranks of the reformers. " Universal suffrage," said a Radi- 
cal orator, " the meaning of universal suffrage is that every 



Chartism. 



Growth of Democracy. 249 

working man in the land has a right to a good coat, a good 
hat, a good roof, a good dinner, no rnore work than will 
keep him in health, and as much wages as will keep him in 
plenty." 

No effective means of propagating the new gospel was 
neglected. Newspapers and local organizations were main- 
tained in every principal town. Mass meetings were called 
at frequent intervals, and in 1839 the Chartists held a na- 
tional convention. A huge petition was sent to the House of 
Commons bearing 1,200,000 signatures. The contemptuous 
rejection of the petition was followed by riotous outbreaks 
in divers parts of the kingdom. A second petition was pre- 
sented in 1842 and met with a like fate. This time the 
petitioners, some 3,000,000 men, demanded not only the 
"six points," but the repeal of all class legislation, the 
abolition of monopolies and the redistribution of property. 
Demonstrations and riots grew so serious that even the 
Tory ministry recognized that something must be done. 
The repeal of the Corn Laws had long been advocated by 

Repeal of the 

enlightened Liberals, who held that the interests of the 9 0rn Laws - 

Ebenezer 

great manufacturing communities ought not to be subor- Elliott wrote 

" The Corn 

dinated to that of the landlord class. The Irish famine Law Chimes," 

in the interest 

brought matters to a crisis. Early in 1846 Sir Robert Peel, of repeal. 

much to the scandal of the Tories who thought him a 
traitor, and of the Liberals who accused him of stealing 
their thunder, proposed a Corn Bill which provided for a 
rapid reduction of duties on imported grains. Despite the 
protests of disappointed politicians, it passed both Houses, 
and England was thereby committed to the policy of free 
trade. Wheat fell to seventy-five shillings a quarter, and the 
ruinous fluctuation in prices ceased. There is ho doubt that 
the removal of the tax on grains greatly relieved the suffer- 
ings of the poor, but it was scouted by the Chartists as a mere 
sop to Cerberus. They were bent on popular government. 



250 The Growth of the English Nation. 

The year 1848 witnessed a second epidemic of revolutions 
throughout the Continent. Not only France, Germany, 
and Italy, but Austria, the stronghold of despotism, was 
convulsed by the upheaval. Paris, the city of insurrec- 
Chartist demon- tions, was mastered by the combined strength of Republi- 
ledVy j'eargus cans and socialists and a working-class republic was estab- 
lished. This signal success of their brothers across the 
water could not but stir the English Chartists to new ex- 
ertions. The democratic movement came to a head. A 
national convention was called at Loudon, April sixth, 
and arrangements were made for a mighty demonstration 
of the popular will. A monster petition, boasting 5,000,000 
signatures, was to be carried to Westminster on the tenth, 
by a body of 500,000 men. The government was, however, 
amply forewarned. The Duke of Wellington was put in 
charge of the defense, and competent arrangements were 
made to suppress disorder. The Chartists were at odds 
among themselves as to whether they should or should not 
use force. The more timid and level-headed among them 
withdrew from a project which could only result in failure 
or defeat. Some 25,000 finally gathered on Kennington 
Common, but they were frightened by the force arrayed 
against them and meekly consented to send their petition 
to the House of Commons in a cab. When submitted to 
examination, the 5,000,000 signatures dwindled to 2,000,000, 
many of these evidently bogus. So the most formidable 
working-class movement England has yet seen ended in 
fiasco. When brought to the test, Chartism proved to be a 
mere wind-bag blown to portentous dimensions by dema- 
gogues and would-be politicians. Yet the agitation had its 

valuable results. The people were trained to think, to search 
Permanent 
results. for the causes of their misery, to look for legislative reform. 

The " classes " were compelled to inquire into the condition 

of the "masses," to recognize their own responsibility for 



Growth of Democracy. 251 

the national well-being, and to set about measures of re- 
dress. The essential clauses of the Charter have since 
been attained — not by insurrections and mob violence, but 
by the characteristically English method of free discussion 
and Parliamentary enactment. 

The Chartists failed, but the advocacy of Parliamentary 
reform was taken up by the Liberal party. Extension of the 
suffrage was repeatedly recommended in the queen's speech, 
and bills proposing to lower the franchise were introduced 
in the House of Commons in 1851, 1859, and 1860. Not, 
however, till the death of Palmerston left the more pro- 
gressive element of the Liberal party in the ascendant, was 
the work of reform undertaken in earnest. Immediately straggle for 
upon his accession to the premiership, Lord Eussell, the th^suff ragged 
life-long champion of suffrage extension, framed a measure by Gladstorie - 
on which he staked the success of his administration. The 
measure was introduced in the House of Commons by Mr. 
Gladstone, a young Peelite, lately turned Liberal. He de- 
fended the bill with remarkable eloquence and was ably 
supported by the free trade Radical, John Bright. But the The discon . 

measure was a timid makeshift and failed to secure the *, en u!: d ,, were 

dubbed 

support of the Liberals themselves. It was defeated in 3 d 3 g 1 > 1 , a " 
committee and Lord Russell's government immediately 
resigned. 

The new ministry under Lord Derby was made up of 
stiff Conservatives, but they found themselves forced by 
public feeling to broach the question of the suffrage. A 
Reform League was formed by the Radicals and working- 
class leaders, who plainly signified a determination not to 
be defrauded of their rights by factious politicians. The 
country was agitated by popular demonstrations, such as 
had extorted the first Reform Act. An attempt to hold a 
mass meeting in Hyde Park resulted in something very 
like a riot. Having no choice but to bring in a reform bill 



252 



The Groivth of the English Ration. 



Reform Act. 
lfct.7. 



The Irish 
Question . 



or to resign office, the ministry finally yielded. The meas- 
ure originally introduced by Disraeli was meant to provide 
against throwing the balance of power into the hands of 
the masses ; but the bill was amended again and again, the 
government yielding point by point, until it emerged a 
more radical measure than the Liberals themselves would 
have proposed. Borough suffrage was extended to all 
householders paying taxes and to all lodgers paying £10 
annual rent. In the counties all persons owning property 
of £5 annual value and occupiers paying £12 a year were 
entitled to vote. This was the legalization of democracy. 
Lord Derby characterized the measure as a "leap in the 
dark," and many other Conservatives feared for the result ; 
but the party as a whole supported the measure, having, as 
Disraeli said, " been educated by events." 

The history of English politics, during the past twenty- 
five years, is hardly intelligible without some comprehen- 
sion of the Irish question. Since Cromwell's conquest of 
Ireland established English rule, the relations between the 
two races have been strained and unhappy. The English 
mind was naturally filled with distrust of Ireland, the main- 
tainer of the Stuarts and Roman Catholicism, while the 
Irish people had abundant reason to fear and hate their con- 
querors. Irish estates were confiscated and made over to 
English landlords. Irish industries were systematically 
discouraged, the manufacture of woolens being prohibited 
and trade being limited to such produce as did not come 
into competition with English goods. Penal laws were 
enacted banishing Catholic priests, obliging all subjects to 
attend Protestant worship, and requiring that children of 
Catholic parents should be educated by Protestant teachers. 
Though Roman Catholics formed three fourths of the popu- 
lation, they were ineligible to office. The Act of Union re- 
dressed none of these wrongs, while it deprived Ireland of 



Oroivth of Democracy. 253 

the last vestige of self-government, her national Parlia- 
ment. Under the terms of the Union, the two Parliaments 
were united at Westminster, thirty-two Irish peers, four 
spiritual and twenty-eight temporal, being added to the 
House of Lords, while one hundred representatives of the 
Irish counties and boroughs were to sit in the House of 
Commons. The Union was meant to secure to Ireland a 
non-sectarian government and legislation uniform with 
that for England and Scotland ; but the Irish people have 
never ceased to protest against it, and the nineteenth cen- . 
tury has been occupied by persistent effort to attain politi- 
cal independence. Agitation first took the form of a 
demand for the removal of political disabilities. The 
Catholic Association was organized to this end, and petition 
after petition was sent up to Parliament. The successive 
Tory governments held out against popular pressure until 
1829, when Peel declared for emancipation and carried a catholic Eman- 
bill providing that a Roman Catholic wbo would take oath i8§9. 10n 
to support the State and not to injure the Church should be 
eligible to office. This was an important concession, but it 
did not satisfy the Irish leaders. Admitted to Parliament, 
they continued to agitate, and that with renewed vigor, for 
the repeal of the Act of Union. "Young Ireland," the 
political organization formed by O'Connell, gained im- 
mense influence with the people. Monster mass meetings re^ai o^the^ 
were held after the fashion of the contemporary Chartist O'Connell, 
demonstrations, French aid was solicited, and a formida- 
ble insurrection seemed imminent. The government had 
resort to coercion, forbade the political conventions, ar- 
rested and transported the ring-leaders. Ireland was in a 
fair way to be subdued by physical force Avhen the famine 
of 1846 gave a new turn to the struggle. Thousands of the 
helpless people died of starvation, thousands more, evicted 
by the landlords, to whom they could pay no rent, drifted 



254 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Population of 
Ireland in 
1841,8,175,124; 
in 1851, 6,552,- 
385. 



Disestablish- 
ment of the 
Protestant 
Church in Ire- 
land. 1869. 



into pauperism, those who had money to buy passage took 
ship for America. The population decreased by a million 
and a half in these years of unparalleled misery. Ireland 
was silenced, but her cause was urged with redoubled energy 
by her loyal sons in America. The Fenians, as this Irish- 
American party called themselves, did not stop at repeal 
of the Union. They advocated nothing less than complete 
separation. The project was too wild to meet with a large 
measure of support, and the movement, in spite of its bril- 
liant leadership, proved abortive. Fenianism had, how- 
ever, effected an important change in English opinion. It 
had become apparent even to partisan observers that condi- 
tions giving rise to such persistent hatred must be seriously 
wrong. Coercion had been maintained for thirty-five years 
without avail. Why not try the effect of reform? 

The Liberal party led by Gladstone accepted the task of 
ascertaining the actual situation and endeavoring to meet 
Irish discontent with adequate measures of relief. In 
pursuance of this policy, the Liberal leaders have been led 
to propose three successive measures of reform, viz., the 
disestablishment of the Irish Church, the modification of 
land laws in the interest of the tenant, and the restoration 
of the Irish Parliament. The initial measure was introduced 
by Mr. Gladstone in the first Parliament elected on the 
reformed basis in 1868. The Liberals were in the ascendant 
and the bill passed the Commons by a majority of one 
hundred. Indeed, it was difficult to find ground for de- 
fense of the Episcopal establishment in Ireland. Its 
annual income from tithes and ecclesiastical lands was 
£600,000, yet it ministered to not more than one tenth of 
the population. An Irish member declared that he paid 
tithes in eight parishes, in not one of which was there a 
church or a resident clergyman. The exclusive privileges 
of the Anglican Church were a direct affront to the Roman 



Growth of Democracy. 255 

Catholic population obliged to contribute to its support. 
The bill was, nevertheless, hotly debated in the House 
of Lords and amended so as to secure larger compensation 
to the disestablished clergy. The House of Commons in- 
sisted on the original form and the Lords were forced to 
accept a compromise not at all to their liking. The dis- 
establishment of the Protestant Church in Ireland was The Irish 
quickly followed by the Land Bill, which provided that \&o iAct ' 
the so-called "Ulster right," the form of land tenure 
customary in the northern counties, should be legal 
throughout Ireland. This measure proposed to secure the 
three " f s," fair rent, fixity of tenure, and free sale of the 
tenants' interest in improvements, but since landlords were 
able to contract themselves out of the requirements of the 
act, it proved ineffective. In the Irish University Bill, Mr. Irish r/niver- 
Gladstone went a step too far and lost his Parliamentary fg 7 3 Bl11 " 
majority. The object of the measure was to remove re- 
ligious tests and provide a non-sectarian education for all 
who desired to avail themselves of it. It was opposed by 
the priests who objected to secular education and by a large 
body of the Liberals who dreaded Roman Catholic ascend- 
ency. Gladstone dissolved Parliament and appealed to the 
country. The elections of 1874 gave the Conservatives a Defeat of Glad- 
majority of fifty, and Gladstone had no choice but to resign. t s t^. S 1874." 

This sudden and overwhelming defeat of a reform minis- 
try so soon after the extension of the suffrage seems at first 
inexplicable. Gladstone's government had fulfilled all its 
pledges. In addition to the legislation having special 
reference to Ireland, Parliament had provided for national 
compulsory education and a secret ballot, had opened the 
civil service to public competition, had abolished the pur- 
chase of commissions in the army, and introduced a bill 
for the reform of the law courts. The reaction in favor of 
conservatism had originated not in the failure of the Liberal 



256 



The Groivth of the English Nation. 



Disraeli, Lord 
Beaconsfield. 



Jingoism. 



party to achieve the proposed reforms, but in the constitu- 
tional inability of the English nation to digest so rich and 
varied a menu. Reform had gone too fast and too far. The 
national temper, essentially conservative, shrank from 
such rapid change. Disraeli's denunciation of Gladstone's 
policy expressed the sentiment of the country. " You 
have had four years of it ; you have despoiled churches, 
you have threatened every corporation and endowment in 
the country, you have examined into everybody's affairs, 
you have criticized every profession and vexed every trade, 
no one is certain of his property, no one knows what duties 
he may have to perform to-morrow." Furthermore the 
Liberal government, in its zeal for domestic improvement, 
had somewhat neglected foreign affairs. In India and in 
Africa, English interests were threatened, and the govern- 
ment, preferring negotiation to war, had pursued a policy 
repugnant to the national pride. 

Disraeli succeeded to the premiership in 1874, pledged to 
maintain the domestic status quo and to vindicate the 
national honor in foreign fields. The Russo-Turkish War 
gave the new government an opportunity to show its aggres- 
sive foreign policy. Russia's rapid successes and temperate 
use of her victory rendered it unnecessary for England to 
proceed to war ; but national excitement ran high and the 
blustering policy of the government was warmly approved.* 
In relation to internal affairs, Beaconsfield's government 
was less successful. The Conservative party, expressed a 
benevolent concern for the well-being of the laborer, and 
certain members, at least, showed a strong disposition to 
legislate in the direction of technical schools, public pro- 
vision, for recreation, rural artisans' dwellings, an eight- 

* Popular sentiment was voiced and a term for the ministerial policy 
suggested in a street song of the day. 

" We don't want to light, but by jingo, if we do, 
We've got the ships, we've got the men, 
And we've got the money too." 



Isaac Butt and 



Growth of Democracy. 257 

hour day, etc.; but the government was resolved to move 
slowly, and little was accomplished beyond an Agricultural 
Holdings Act, securing compensation for improvements 
to English tenants, and the Laborers' Dwellings Act which 
empowered town corporations to purchase land and erect 
buildings for the accommodation of workmen's families. 

Toward Irish discontent the government showed an un- 
compromising severity. The recent reforms, liberal and 
thoroughgoing though they were, had apparently not 
reached the root of the difficulty. Agitation increased 
With every concession. Hardly had the Land Bill become 
law when the Irish party, under the lead of Isaac Butt, 

brought forward a demand for Home Rule. The new leader * he demand for 

° Home Rule. 

declared that Ireland could no longer consent to receive 

her laws at the hands of a Parliament, the great majority of 
whose members were Englishmen and Scotchmen. She 
must have an independent legislature, but wished to retain 
such relations to the British Parliament as an American 
commonwealth bears to the government of the United 
States. To the impartial outsider there appears to be 
nothing unreasonable in this proposal. It would indeed 
seem expedient that not only Ireland, but Wales and Scot- 
land, should have local parliaments, and that the four 
originally independent kingdoms should form a federal 
union after the American plan. The several interests are 
as diverse as those of our states, and would be better served 
by sectional legislation. Moreover, the mass of business 
involved in the care of domestic, colonial, and foreign in- 
terests augments from year to year. It already exceeds the 
capacity of a single legislative assembly. To relieve Parlia- 
ment of local legislation would greatly facilitate the con- 
duct of imperial affairs. Nevertheless, the demand for 
Home Rule met with small favor among Englishmen. 
Race prejudice lent weight to the argument that an Irish 



258 The Groivth of the JEnglish Nation. 

Parliament could not be trusted to deal fairly with the 
Protestants or the landed interests involved. Controlling 
but a small minority (fifty or sixty members) in the House 
of Commons, the Nationalist faction remained in sulky 
isolation until Parnell taught them how to compel atten- 
Pameiiand tion. Charles Stuart Parnell, a man of cool head and 
struction. steady nerve and an expert parliamentarian, succeeded to 

the leadership of his party in 1877. His policy was, in one 
word, obstruction. The House of Commons was to be 
hindered in the prosecution of any and every measure 
until Irish interests were considered. By moving amend- 
ments and forcing divisions, by making interminable 
speeches and dragging in irrelevant issues, the ordinary 
course of business was effectually checked. In despair of 
getting anything done, the government resorted to extreme 
measures. Parnell and other unruly members were cen- 

e. g., the clo- sured by the House, and rules were adopted enabling the 

sure, a method J ' r a 

of cutting off Speaker to coerce an obstinate minority. Nevertheless, the 

debate by call- c 

ingforthe obstructionists succeeded so far as to bring upon the gov- 

previous ques- ° * 

tion. ernment the charge of timid inefficiency. 

Parliament was dissolved and new elections were held in 
the spring of 1880. Beaconsfleld appealed to the country 
for support on the ground that the Conservative party 
could alone be trusted to maintain England's ascendency 
in the councils of Europe or to defend the empire against 
threatening disintegration. The Liberal platform, on the 
other hand, announced an "anti-jingo" foreign policy, pro- 
gressive domestic legislation, redress for Irish grievances, 
but firm and consistent resistance to Home Rule. The 
election results showed that the tide had turned. The Lib- 
elections of erals secured a clear majority of fifty-five, and Gladstone 

1880. 

Liberals, 355; was free to inaugurate a program of reform. Campaign 
238; Nation- ' pledges were redeemed in the Irish Land Act (1881) which 



alists, 62 



provided that rents should be fixed by land courts, and in 



Growth of Democracy. 259 

the Reform Act (1884) which farther extended the suffrage 
to the agricultural laborers. The county franchise was 
now made identical with that of the boroughs and all Reform Act. 
adult males paying £10 room or house rent were entrusted 1 4- 
with the ballot. The manhood suffrage demanded by the jp our flfths of 
Chartists was thus practically secured. Another of the voter^m^the 
"six points," equal electoral districts, was attained in the domare^qulli- 
next year. Counties and boroughs are now divided into holders. USe " 
election divisions containing from 50,000 to 60,000 voters 
each. Each returns but one member to the House of Com- 
mons. 

Gladstone had amply fulfilled his promise of internal 
reform, but he failed a second time to meet the approval of 
the people in the conduct of foreign affairs. A vote of cen- 
sure on the Egyptian policy of the government failed by 
only fourteen votes, and in June of 1885 the ministry was 
defeated on an amendment to the tax bill. Lord Salis- 
bury was called to the prime ministry, but the Conserva- 
tives were not strong enough to hold their own unaided. 
Lord Randolph Churchill, the leader of the "fourth party," 
as the progressive Tories were called, was summoned to the £° rd Randolph 
cabinet. The Conservative party was thus committed to 
various projects for social and industrial improvement little 
akin to its former policy. Churchill, furthermore, nego- 
tiated an alliance with the Nationalists, always ready to 
cast in tbeir lot with either party that showed any inclina- 
tion to concede Home Rule. Thus, by currying favor with 
Tory reformers and Irish Home Rulers, the government 
was enabled to control a majority in the House of Com- 
mons, but little important business was put through. Both 
parties were making ready for a critical campaign. 

In the coming elections the agricultural laborers were to 
cast their first ballots and no man could surmise how their 
vote would affect the political future. The ministry relied 



260 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Elections of 
1885. 



The Home Rule 
Bill, April 8, 

1886. 



on the influence of the clergy and the landed gentry to keep 
the rustics under party control, but the opposition candi- 
dates drew glowing pictures of the benefits to be, expected 
from a Liberal administration. Laborers' allotments, free 
schools, reform in local government, disestablishment of 
the Scotch Church, these and other legislative tid-bits, 
Gladstone's more radical followers did not hesitate to offer. 
The unnatural alliance between Conservatives and Home 
Rulers was maintained through the campaign. Parnell 
instructed his party to vote Conservative wherever there 
was no Nationalist candidate. The result of the elections 
abundantly justified his tactics. The Liberals secured 333 
seats, the Conservatives 251, but Ireland, outside of Ulster 
county, had gone solid for Home Rule. Parnell could 
count on eighty-six members and could by uniting forces 
with the ministry outvote the opposition. He had, there- 
fore, the balance of power in his hands, and w r as in a 
position to extort concessions. Gladstone was directly con- 
verted to Home Rule. The result of the elections was no 
sooner known than he issued a manifesto favoring the 
Nationalist claims. The opportunity to introduce a Home 
Rule Bill was soon vouchsafed him. In an amendment to 
the address, the government was defeated by a vote of 329 
to 258. Nationalists and Radicals voted with the opposi- 
tion, while a few dissentient Liberals joined the Conserva- 
tive ranks. 

Gladstone's Home Rule Bill provided for the establish- 
ment in Ireland of a separate executive government solely 
responsible to a legislature sitting in Dublin and em- 
powered to deal with all non-imperial business. Irish 
representation in the British Parliament was to be discon- 
tinued. It was closely followed by the Land Purchase Bill 
designed to enable Irish tenants to buy up their holdings 
by. means of a loan from the imperial government. This 



Groioth of Democracy. 261 

complete surrender to the demands of the Nationalist fac- 
tion roused intense indignation throughout England. Not 
even such popularity as Gladstone's could survive the storm 
of abuse heaped upon the author of this " scheme of dis- 
integration." The " grand old man " was denounced as a 
political turncoat, a traitor to his party and to his country. 
His change of front was no more reprehensible than Peel's 
desertion of the Corn Laws in 1846, but Home Rule was a 
more contentious issue since it challenged race feeling. 
The breach occasioned in the Liberal party was deep and 
irreparable. The seceders, under the lead of Lord Hart- 
ington and Mr. Goshen (Whigs), Joseph Chamberlain and 
John Bright (Radicals), called themselves Liberal Union- 
ists, but joined forces with the Conservatives who now 
declared that the Irish question could only be settled by 
coercion. With forces so depleted Gladstone could not 
carry his measure and the Home Rule Bill was voted down , _ 100C 

J UQG 7 t loot). 

341 to 311. The only chance of success was an appeal to 
the country. In the elections of July, 1886, the Conserva- 
tives had an easy victory in the English constituencies, but Elections of 

1886. 

Ireland, Scotland, and Wales stood loyally by Gladstone The popular 
and Home Rule. The Conservatives returned 316 members, of Home Rule 
the Liberal Unionists 74, the Gladstone Liberals 196, the land, 4% to 1; 
Parnellites 84. The defeat was so decisive that Gladstone to i; in Wales, 
resigned, and Salisbury was summoned to form a ministry 
before Parliament convened. 

In the autumn of '86 the Conservatives entered upon a 
long lease of power. The six years of their administration 
was marked by no legislation of first importance except the 
Local Government Act. By this measure, the anti-Home 
Rule ministry undertook to meet the demand for self- 
government by establishing county councils elected by the 
freeholders and responsible for all purely local business. 
The defeat of Home Rule occasioned a series of riotous 



262 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Election returns 
of 1892. 

Glads tonians, 
271 ; National- 
ists, 81; Labor 
party, 4 ; Con- 
servatives, 268 ; 
Liberal Union- 
ists, 4t>. 



The second 
Home Rule Bill 
thrown out hy 
the Lords. 



outbreaks in Ireland which the government put down with 
a strong hand. England, on the contrary, was well con- 
tent with the decision, and the Conservative party seemed 
securely intrenched within an insurmountable bulwark of 
national prejudice. 
Signs of reaction, however, began soon to be discerned 

in working-class quarters. 
A new party had arisen. 
Social and industrial ques- 
tions were pressing for 
solution and a Conserva- 
tive government could 
hardly be expected to give 
them adequate treatment. 
Propositions for an eight- 
hour day, for land-tenure 
reform, for repeal of the 
Septennial Act, for pay- 
ment of members of Parlia- 
ment, were rejected, to the 
great indignation of the 
people. Under the pressure 
brought to bear by pop- 
ular feeling, the ministerial rauks thinned until Sal- 
isbury could no longer be sure of his majority and dis- 
solved Parliament. The election returns of June, 1892, 
reversed the verdict given in 1886. Gladstonians and 
Nationalists combined could boast a majority of forty- 
two, and the Conservative government was readily de- 
feated by an amendment to the address. The Home Rule 
Bill, spite of dissensions in the Nationalist ranks, passed 
the House of Commons by a vote of 347 to 304, but it 
met with unexpected defeat in the Upper House. Since 
Lord Grey forced the first Reform Bill through the House 




Lord Salisbury Rejects the 
People's Bills. 



Groivth of Democracy. 



263 



of Lords, that honorable body had not ventured to reject a 
measure sent up from the House of Commons and endorsed 
by popular support. It was generally supposed that its veto 
power, like that of the crown, had passed into "innocuous 
desuetude." To the scandal of all believers in popular 




The House of Lords Disposes of the Home Rule Bill. 

government, this measure, which had been approved by 
2,477,856 out of 4,752,698 voters in the recent elections, 
was rejected by a body of men who could lay no claim 
to voice the will of the nation. Unionists argued in their 
defense that this extraordinary prerogative might be ex- 
ercised in a case where an extra-constitutional measure was 
in question. The Lords, it was said, would never presume 
to interfere in the course of ordinary legislation. But the 
Upper House, dominated by Lord Salisbury, has since 



264 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



plucked up courage to defeat other Liberal projects.* The 
Radicals had for years been protesting that the House of 
Lords was an anachronism — a clog on the wheels of pro- 
gress, but so long as this degenerate descendant of the 
Witenagemot was content to remain a mere handful of 
idle old gentlemen who amused themselves with ratifying 
the bills passed in the Lower House, its abolition would 
hardly have been seriously considered. Recent obstruction 



v. ^5««lK- 



GOB BusiTue S0UJRE and hi:, "RELATIONS 
l v ANI» KEEP US IN OUR P^OPEK STATIONS ( 



nf Ml tffl^i ■"■■'-; 




Labor. 



Salisbury. 



Archbisbop of Canterbury. 



of Liberal measures has, however, laid tbem open to at- 
tack. Mr. Labouchere, the inveterate foe of hereditary privi- 
lege, recently introduced into the House of Commons a 
resolution stating that " the power now enjoyed by persons 

Proposed abo- who were not elected to Parliament by the usual process 
lition of the „ , „ ' . , , , 

House of Lords, of the franchise, yet who are able to prevent the passage of 
Marcb 13, 1894. , .„ , „ „ m . . , 

bills, shall cease." The proposition had not been foreseen 

and half the members were absent. To the surprise and 

amusement of the House it was carried by a vote of 147 to 

Marcb,i894. 145. Both Mr. Gladstone and Lord Rosebery (appointed 



* E. g., the Parish Councils Bill, which aims to take local interests out 
of the hands of the squire and the parson and entrust them to the peo- 
ple, was weakened by the amendments of the Upper House. 



Growth of Democracy. 



265 



premier on the resignation of Gladstone) have given ex- 
pression to the conviction that the House of Lords must be 
reformed if it is to remain a part of the English constitu- 
tion, but the government could hardly adopt so hasty and 




- r w -r 

Types of our Hereditary Legislators. 

ill-considered a measure. It was allowed to drop, but the 
end is not yet. Not only are the Radicals bent on the 
destruction of every remnant of political privilege, but the 
growing Labor party menaces all aristocratic claim. 

The political reforms achieved during the past hundred 
years amount to a complete transformation of the English 
constitution. The oligarchic monarchy of the Georges has 
become the democratic monarchy of to-day. The people, 
through their representatives in the House of Commons, 
control the ministry and the ministerial policy in every de- 
tail of domestic and imperial legislation. 



Note.— The illustrations in this chapter are contemporary carica- 
tures. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Industrial Progress During the Eighteenth and 
Nineteenth Centuries. 

Illustrative Readings. Principal Inventions. 

Shirley ; Bronte. Fly shuttle, Kay, 1738. 

Sybil; Disraeli. Spinning-jenny, Hargreaves, 1767. 

All Sorts and Conditions of .Men ; Throstle, Arkwright, 1769. 

Besant. Spinning-mule, Crompton, 1779. 

The Children of Gibeon ; Besant. Steam engine, Watt, 1775. 

Marcella; Mrs. Humphry Ward. Power loom, Cartwright, 1785. 

In Darkest England ; General Cotton gin, Whitney, 1793. 

Booth. Steamboat, Fulton, 1811. 

Life and Labour of the People ; Railroad, Stephenson, 1825. 

Charles Booth. 

The industrial history of the seventeeth century offers 
little that is noteworthy. The disorders of the civil war 
caused a rise in prices which was made good only in part 
by the rise in wages. On the whole, however, there was 
little economic disturbance. Gradually population had 
adjusted itself to the changes consequent upon the 
agrarian revolution of the Tudor period. The growth of 
domestic industries and the improvement in methods of 
agriculture brought increased demand for labor, and by the 
beginning of the eighteenth century the rural classes were 
in a fairly prosperous condition. 

AGRICULTURE. 

A second movement toward enclosure comparable in ex- 
tent and significance to that which transformed the face of 
Tudor England, characterized the eighteenth century. 
This second onslaugbt on peasant holdings was due, not to 
the demand for pasture land, but to improved methods of 

266 



Industrial Progress. 267 

tillage. Scientific agriculture, eloquently advocated by Improved met h- 
such men as Markham and Arthur Young, had become the ^ of a-S 11 ™*- 
fashion among English landlords. Assiduous attention 
was given to stock-raising. Clover and rich grasses were 
introduced and better breeds of cattle were kept. To the 
arable land, marl and other manures were applied, while 
methods of cultivation were carefully studied. The open 
field system, with its numerous proprietors and cumbersome 
regulations, was abandoned. The land was redivided in 
such fashion that each man who could justify his title re- 
ceived his share in a single lot. This could be cultivated to 
much better advantage than the scattered holdings of the 
old-time tenure. These and other improvements so in- 
creased the productive power of the soil that wheat crops 
averaged twenty and thirty bushels to the acre, four times 
the thirteenth century rate. The weight of sheep and 
cattle was raised in the same proportion. 

From the standpoint of the scientific agriculturist, the 
wasteful and petty methods of the medieval system were 
intolerable. Writing in 1771 of the small farms in Buck- 
inghamshire, Young says : " Nearly the whole country is 
open field land ; and all lies in broad, high, crooked ridges." 
With the farmers using four or five horses to a plow, " the 
tillage is miserable," the wheat crop yielding not more 
than fifteen bushels per acre. "In no part of the country 
have I met with husbandry that requires greater amend- 
ment than this ; such crops are, their soil considered, con- 
temptible." "As to the landlords, what in the name of 
wonder can be the reason of their not enclosing ! All this 
vale would make as fine meadows as any in the world ! ' ' 
In Norfolk, on the other hand, where the common fields 
had long since disappeared, conditions were, according to 
Young, all that could be desired. " No small farmers could 
effect such great things as have been done in Norfolk. En- 



268 The Groivth of the English Nation. 

closing, marling, and keeping a flock of sheep large enough 
for folding, belong absolutely and exclusively to great farm- 
ers. . . . Great farms have been the soul of the Norfolk cul- 
ture ; split them into tenures of an hundred pounds a year, 
you will find nothing but beggars and weeds in the whole 
country. The rich man keeps his land rich and clean." 

The progress of enclosure was accelerated by a new 
demand for land. Merchants, grown suddenly rich in 
the East India trade, and clothiers who had amassed 
fortunes in manufacture, were eager to buy country es- 
tates and to secure a place among the landed gentry. 
Under the spur of rising prices the zeal for enclosing over- 
Pro s of came all obstacles. Between 1710 and 1760, 334,974 acres 
Enclosure. were enclosed, while the land so redistributed from 1760 to 
1830 amounted to nearly 7,000,000 acres. In the second 
period, 4,000 Enclosure Acts were passed affecting 4,000 out 
of the 10,000 parishes in England. The transformation 
was most complete in the southern and eastern counties. 
In Cumberland and the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 
Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, the small holdings still per- 




The Water Supply. 

sist. The Enclosure Acts were framed by a Parliament 
made up of landowners who gave but slight considera- 
tion to the rights of tenants and freeholders. Unable 



Industrial Progress. 269 

to defend themselves against their powerful neighbors, 
small proprietors yielded, not without protest, to unjust en- 
croachment, or finding that they could not compete in the 
same market with the new cultivators, they sold their little 
holdings and dropped to the rank of the landless laborer. 
Even Arthur Young laments the disappearance of the 
freeholders. The stalwart yeomen who had been the main 
support of Cromwell and the Puritan revolution were 
hardly to be found in England at the close of the eigh- 
teenth century. They had been driven from the land to 
make room for improved agriculture under the tenant- 
farmer. 

MANUFACTURES. 

The decay of the yeomanry was hastened by the changed 
conditions of the textile industries. With the failure of EooC hofdo- 
the gilds, the cloth manufacture had fallen largely into the lecture manU " 
hands of the peasant farmers. Spinning and weaving were ^(Wte^g t . 
carried on as a by-industry in thousands of cottage homes. urda y Night." 
The first fifty years of the eighteenth century was an epoch 
of marked prosperity for the woolen industry. Protective 
legislation shut out foreign goods, and the rural manufac- 
turers found a ready market for their homespun broadcloths 
and serges. The income so obtained was a welcome ad- 
dition to the produce of their scanty fields. Defoe de- 
scribes the cloth industry near Halifax in glowing terms. Da niei Defoe 
"Not only the valleys, but the sides of the hills, which through Great 
were very steep every way, were spread with houses and Bntam -" 
that very thick ; for the land being divided into small en- 
closures, that is to say from two acres to six or seven acres 
each, seldom more, every three or four pieces of land had 
a house belonging to it. . . . We found the country in 
short one continued village— hardly a house standing out of 
speaking distance from another. ... At almost every 
house there was a tenter and on almost every tenter a 



270 The Growth of the English Nation. 

piece of cloth. . . I thought it was the most agreeable 
sight I ever saw. . . Look which way we would, high to 
the tops or low to the bottoms, it was all the same ; in- 
numerable houses and tenters and a white piece on every 
tenter. At every considerable house was a manufactory or 
work-house (dyeing houses, scouring shops, etc.). . . 
Among the manufacturers' houses are likewise scattered an 




Traveling in the Eighteenth Century. 

infinite number of cottages or small dwellings in which 
dwell the workmen which are employed, the women and 
children of whom are always busy carding, spinning, etc., 
so that no hands being unemployed, all can gain their bread 
even from the youngest to the ancient ; hardly anything 
above four years old,but its hands are sufficient to itself . . . . 
This whole country is infinitely full of people and those peo- 
ple all full of business ; not a beggar, not an idle person to 
be seen, except here and there an almshouse, where people 
ancient, decrepit, and past labor might perhaps be found." 

The eastern counties were no less prosperous. "When we 
Chief centers 
of the woolen come into Norfolk, we see a face of diligence spread over 

industry were 

Norfolk, Wilt- the whole country: the vast manufactures carried on by the 

shire, and the 

West Riding Norwich weavers employ all the country round in spin- 
of Yorkshire. 

ning yarn for them, besides many packs of yarn which 

they receive from other countries, even from as far as York- 



Industrial Progress. 



271 



shire and Westmoreland." The manufacturers assured 
Defoe that " there was not in all the eastern and middle 
part of Norfolk any hand unemployed if they would work ; 
and that the very children after four or five years of age 
could every one earn their own bread." Many of these 
people were self-employed — like the medieval master- 
craftsmen, owning their own looms and spinning-wheels, 
buying their own material and carrying the finished stuff 
to market ; but some who were not able to set up for them- 
selves were working for the manufacturers. These fur- 
nished the yarn and even the looms, paying the employees 
for their labor, much as do the clothing contractors of 
to-day. Defoe describes the market held in the High Street 
of Leeds, where from £10,000 to £20,000 worth of cloth was 
bought and sold twice a week. "Early in the morning, 
there are tressels placed in two rows in the street, some- 
times two rows on a side, but always one row at least. Then 
there are boards laid cross those tres- 
sels, so that the boards lie like long 
counters on either side from one end 
of the street to the other. The cloth- 
iers come early in the morning with 
their cloth, and, as few clothiers 
bring more than one piece, the mar- 
kets being so frequent, they go into 
the inns and public houses with it 
and there set it down. . . . At 
seven o'clock in the morning, the 
market bell rings. It would surprise 
a stranger to see in how few minutes, without hurry or 
noise, and not the least disorder, the whole market is 
filled ; all the boards upon the tressels are covered with 
cloth, close to one another as the pieces can lie longways 
by one another, and behind every piece of cloth, the 




Lamplighting. 



A local market. 



272 



The Oroivth of the English Nation. 



Inventions. 



The fly shuttle. 
1738. 



The spinning- 
jenny. 1767, 



The mule- 
jenny. 1770. 



clothiers standing to sell it. . . . As soon as the bell 
has done ringing the merchants and factors and buyers 
of all sorts come down and coming along the spaces be- 
tween the rows of boards, they walk up the rows and down 
as their occasions direct. . . . When they see any 
cloths to their colors or that suit their occasions, they reach 
over to the clothier and ivhisper, and in the fewest words 
imaginable the price is stated ; one asks, the other bids ; 
and 'tis agree or not agree in a moment." 

Until 1750, the implements employed in textile industry 
were nearly as simple as those of India. The distaff and 
spindle had been displaced by the spinning-wheel in the 
fifteenth century, but the loom contained as yet no essen- 
tial improvement on that used under the Pharaohs. In 1738, 
one John Kay invented an attachment for the loom, the 
fly shuttle, which enabled one man to run the machine 
that had heretofore required two. At the same time, the 
productive power was doubled. The fly shuttle came rap- 
idly into general use, and, since the efficiency of the weaver 
was quadrupled, the looms soon outstripped the spinning- 
wheels. It was difficult to provide sufficient yarn to afford 
employment for all. In 1767 Hargreaves stumbled upon 
an invention that restored proportion. Upsetting a 
spinning-wheel and observing it still moving, he caught 
the idea of an automatic arrangement of several spindles 
set in motion by one wheel. The spinning-jenny, as his 
machine was called, carried at first eight threads, then six- 
teen, twenty, one hundred and twenty, etc. At about the 
same time, Richard Arkwright secured a patent for a spin- 
ning-machine (the throstle) constructed on a different 
principle and spinning a harder, firmer thread than the 
jenny. The best features of the two machines were com- 
bined in the mule-jenny patented by Samuel Crompton in 
1779. The new spinner has been improved till it now 



Industrial Progress. 273 

carries 2,000 spindles and requires so little attention that 
several machines can be managed by one man. These 
inventions gave a marvelous impulse to textile industry, 
since the spinners were once more able to supply the 
weavers with yarn. The new machinery was used to great 
advantage in making up not only silk, wool, and flax, but 
the far more difficult fiber cotton. The manufacture of The i nven tion 
cotton had been neglected as impracticable and the im- g\ n \ 1793° great- 
portation of cotton cloth was prohibited lest it should cosTof prepar^ 
come into injurious competition with the native woolen materiaif 3 ^ 
goods. But Hargreaves' jenny spun a fine, strong thread 
that could be woven into the best cambric. Business enter- 
prise caught at this new opportunity. Mills were built 
and machinery perfected, vast quantities of raw material 
were imported, and cotton cloth became one of the prin- 
cipal products of English industry. The zealous manu- 
facturers soon cast aside hand power as quite too slow for 
their purpose. Horse power and water power were utilized 
in turn. Finally Watt's steam engine furnished a motor, 
at once the most convenient and the most efficient. Cart- 
wright's power loom was invented in 1787 and was imme- The p0W er 
diately adopted in the cotton factories. In the manufacture loom ' ' 
of silk and wool the hand looms held their own, however, 
for fifty years longer. 

The inventors who wrought this marvelous transforma- 
tion in the textile industries were, with few exceptions, 
men of humble birth. Hargreaves was an ignorant 
weaver ; Crompton, a spinner and a farmer's son ; Ark- 
wright was a poor wig-maker ; Cartwright alone of the 
great inventors was a gentleman born. " It is not extrava- 
gant to say that the experiments of these humble mechanics 
have in their results added more to the power of England 
than all the colonies ever acquired by her arms." 

The modern factory was the direct result of these inven- 



274 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Movement of 
population. 



Antagonism be- 
tween capital 
and labor. 



e. p., Sir Rich- 
ard Ark- 
wright, Sir 
Robert Peel, 
Robert Owen. 



tions. The several processes, carding, spinning, weaving, 
etc., could not long be carried on in scattered cottages, but 
must be brought together under one roof in order that the 
machinery might be run by the central motive power, 
whether steam or water. Concentration of processes in- 
volved massing of operatives — and here the changing con- 
ditions of manufacture cooperated with changing condi- 
tions of agriculture to bring about a remarkable movement 
of population. The displaced yeomen and the agricultural 
laborers, deprived of work by the improved methods of 
tillage, flocked to the factories in search of employment. 
People began to migrate from the country to the towns, 
from the agricultural regions of the south to Yorkshire and 
Lancashire where water power was abundant and stores of 
coal furnished an inexhaustible fuel. The movement has 
not yet ceased and its ultimate results are still problematic, 
but it has already transformed the agricultural England of 
the Middle Ages into the manufacturing and mercantile 
England of the present day. 

Furthermore, witb the introduction of costly machinery, 
capital acquired an entirely new significance in industry. 
Labor had heretofore been the all-important element in 
production, but from the time that money was required to 
build and furnish a mill, capital has played the principal 
part. The man who could bring to bear upon the new 
industrial opportunity not only a considerable fortune 
but business ability and organizing genius, was easily 
master of the situation. He might direct the forces at his 
disposal as absolutely and as dexterously as a general 
maneuvers his regiments and artillery. The laborer, on 
the other hand, was degraded to the position of a de- 
pendent. Working on material and with machinery that 
belonged to another, with no share in the product beyond 
his wages, he lost all personal concern for his work. The 




Density of Population and Products. 



> tb« Sftrrc Mile . ■ ' 

. — —. . . 3GuAi/U7y 

The figures indicate the popu- 
lation per square mile in regions 
where the density exceeds 500. 



[Reproduced from Chisholm's " Handbook of Commercial Geography," by permission of 
Longmans, Green & Co.] 



276 The Growth of the English Nation. 

interests of employer and employed, no longer identical, 
came frequently into direct conflict. Misunderstanding 
and distrust grew into a well-defined hostility. With the 
factory organization of industry, arose the modern antag- 
onism between capital and labor. 
Deterioration of The deterioration of the laboring classes in the first five 
decades of the factory system goes far to justify this hos- 
tility. Machinery has rendered muscle and skill unneces- 
sary. In the factory operative, who has but to overlook a 
self-impelled mechanism, the essential quality is patient, 
Textile statis- unremitting attention. Endurance is more important than 
Factories, strength or ingenuity. The craftsman suddenly found his 

53,64i,062r CS ' labor a drug in the market, for unskilled laborers, women, 
employees', ' the very children, could do the work required as well as he. 
men, 4i6,608 > " Women and children were even preferred because they were 
8M99. ren ' more dexterous and docile. The effect was to reverse the 

relations of the home. Wives and children became the 
bread-winners, while grown men vainly sought employ- 
ment or degenerated into contented idleness. It is true 
that new industries were being developed by the require- 
ments of the factory. Machinery was to be constructed 
and mills put up. England's inexhaustible supplies of coal 
and iron were discovered and must be brought to the 
surface. Railroads and steamship lines were opened up to 
carry the products of English looms to distant markets. 
The factory era, indeed, witnessed a marvelous expansion 
in all departments of industry ; but the new opportunities 
fell to the succeeding generation. The spinners and weavers 
thrown out of work by the recent inventions could not im- 
mediately secure employment as miners and machinists. 
The enlarged demand for labor might ultimately absorb 
the whole labor supply, but it could not avert temporary 
distress. Quite as serious as the displacement of skilled 
laborers were the evil effects of the inferior conditions of 



Industrial Progress. 



277 



employment on the operatives. Machinery knows no 
fatigue. In order to get as much as possible out of his 
investment, the master was tempted to work his employees 
as long and hard as was humanly possible. Hours varied 
with the policy of the individual employer, but a fifteen- 
hour day was not thought excessive, and cases are recorded 
where operatives were regularly kept at work for eighteen 




An Iron Furnace. 

hours out of the twenty-four. Motives of economy dictated 
that the mills should be cheaply built. Poor light, bad ven- 
tilation, defective drainage, were the rule. Conditions out- 
side the factory were even more deplorable. People crowded , 

1 In Manchester 

into the factory towns far in excess of house accommoda- one tenth of 

the population 
tions. Huddled together in attics and cellars and hastilv lived in ceU 

J lars. 
built tenements, they were forced to live under conditions 

that bred disease. The physique of the factory operative 
rapidly degenerated, while the death rate, markedly higher 
in manufacturing towns than elsewhere, told a sad tale of 
misery. 

The suffering of the laboring classes was hardly noted by 
economists and statesmen of that day. All energies were 
engaged in the accumulation of wealth, all attention was 
fixed upon the marvelous inventions by which production 
was multiplied a hundredfold. Enormous fortunes were 
amassed in manufactures and trade, and the national 



278 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Wealth of 
Great Britain 
in million 
pounds : 
1774, 1,100 
1800, 1,740 
1812, 2,190 
1822, 2,600 
1833, 3,750 
1840, 4,100 
1865, 6,113 
1875, 8,584 
1885, 10,037 



Machine break- 
ing. 



Luddite Riots. 



Trades unions 
and strikes. 



wealth augmented by leaps and bounds. The increase of 
population, then regarded as a sure index of prosperity, 
was not less marked. England's population has been 
quadrupled and her wealth multiplied by ten in the past 
one hundred years. 

REVOLT OF LABOR. 

The laborers were, however, not consoled by the ultimate 
advantages of the use of machinery. They saw plainly 
enough that the immediate results were disastrous, and 
blindly thought to set the matter right by destroying their 
dangerous rival. Kay's fly shuttle was so resented that the 
inventor was forced to flee the kingdom. Hargreaves' 
house was broken open and his spinning-jenny smashed in 
pieces. Arkwright's mill was wrecked by an infuriated 
mob, and Peel's factory at Altham suffered a similar fate. 
Serious riots broke out among the silk-weavers of Spital- 
field and Blackburn. In 1811, a formidable insurrection 
was set on foot by the hosiers of Nottingham. Forming 
themselves into secret associations, the mutinous laborers 
attacked the houses of the manufacturers and destroyed 
the dreaded knitting frames. Such outbreaks of popular 
frenzy were summarily suppressed as offenses against public 
tranquillity. 

The strike was a more rational method of resistance. 
This, however, involved concerted action on the part of the 
laborers, and was hardly less incriminating than open 
violence. The manufacturers readily secured assistance 
from Parliament. The Coalition Act of 1800 reasserted the 
old-time prohibition against " covin and conspiracy." Any 
persons combining to advance the rate of wages, reduce the 
hours of labor, or in any manner coerce the masters of a 
trade, were condemned to jail and hard labor. Repressive 
legislation was, however, found to be of no avail. Secret 
associations existed wherever laborers were congregated in 



Industrial Progress. 



279 



the factory towns, and their methods were more desperate 
because illegal. The policy of repression was maintained 
for twenty-five years. In 1824 Parliament appointed a 
commission to inquire into the effect of the Coalition 
Act. It was reported that " those laws had not only not 
been efficient to prevent combinations either of masters or 
workmen, but, on the contrary, had, in the opinion of 
many of both parties, a tendency to produce mutual irrita- 
tion and distrust, and to give a violent character to the 
combinations, and to render them highly dangerous to the 

peace of the community." 
The statute was therefore 
repealed. A sudden and 
marked increase in the num- 
ber of strikes induced this 
employers' Parliament to 
impose certain restraints on 
trades societies in the fol- 
lowing year, but absolute 
prohibition was never again 
attempted. In the Trades Union Acts of 1871 and 1876, 
such associations were given a legal status. For the past 
fifty years the unions have been a notable influence. They 
have accomplished not merely a considerable advance of 
wages, but they have united to bring about a legal limi- 
tation on the hours of labor, and to denounce such con- 
ditions in mine and workshop as militate against the well- 
being of the laborer. 

The trades unions have not been alone in their endeavor 
to secure for the operatives higher wages, shorter hours, 
and better conditions of labor. Throughout the nine- 
teenth century the cause of the working class has been 
championed by philanthropists and statesmen who have 
thought it wiser to protect the laborer against degrading 




The Postman. 



Repeal of the 
Coalition Act. 
1824. 



Average rise 
of wages from. 
1835 to 1885, 
70 per cent. 



Factory legis- 
lation. 



280 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



Sir Robert Peel 
and the Factory 
Act of 1802. 



See Mrs. 
Browning's 
"Cry of the 
Children." 



Factory Act 
of 1833. 



conditions than to build hospitals and almshouses for the 
victims of an iniquitous system. First to protest against the 
injurious effects of factory labor was Sir Robert Peel, who 
called attention to the sufferings of the so-called appren- 
tices — the children sent from the parish poorhouses to be 
bound out to the manufacturers. The Act of 1802 applied 
only to apprenticed children working in cotton and woolen 
mills. It required that they should have suitable lodging, 
clothing, and instruction; their working day was limited to 
twelve hours, between six in the morning and nine at 
night; and the factory where they were employed was to be 
"lime-washed twice a year and duly ventilated." The 
law was evaded by unscrupulous manufacturers, who had 
no difficulty in hiring free children from their needy 
parents and guardians. Owen and Peel pressed for further 
legislation that should protect these no less unfortunate 
victims of the new order. A series of abortive measures 
prepared the way for the searching investigation conducted 
by the Factory Commission of 1833. The report revealed a 
state of things that roused the country to horrified protest. 
Children of tender years were employed for long hours and 
under unwholesome conditions. Robbed of sleep and 
healthful recreation, these toiling little ones fell an easy 
prey to diseases and deformities incident to the nature of 
their work. Deprived of opportunity for education, sub- 
jected to demoralizing influences, they rapidly degenerated 
into weakness, brutality, vice. England stood aghast at the 
evident degradation of her working classes. A vigorous 
effort was made in the interests of industrial freedom to 
prevent remedial legislation ; but the economists were over- 
borne by the weight of evidence against the "let-alone" 
policy, and the eager advocates of national aggrandizement 
were silenced. The Act of 1833 forbade the employment in 
factories of children under nine years. Children between 



Industrial Progress. 281 

nine and thirteen years of age might be employed but 
eight hours a day, while no person under twenty-one years 
and no woman might be emploj-ed at night. Subsequent 
legislation has provided schooling for factory children on 
the "half-time" system, regulated the use of children children re- 
as chimney sweeps, and forbidden the employment of school on aite^ 
children or women underground. In 1847, after a battle half day?. ° r 
royal between the champions of protection and the advo- 
cates of laissez faire, the Ten Hours Act was passed, re- Ten Hours Act. 
ducing to ten the number of hours in the working day for 
women and children. This practically meant a ten-hour 
day for all factory employees, since the men could not 
profitably be kept at work after their nimble assistants were 
withdrawn. Recent legislation has extended the blessings 
of protection to every factory and workshop where women 
and children are employed. Safe and wholesome con- 
ditions of work are secured by minute requirements as to 
ventilation and drainage and the guarding of machinery. . , 

Legislation is now pending designed to render the em- Li ^ bl } 1 n y Bill D 
ployer liable to damage in case of accident for which he can t^ 6 ! 10 ^^ 
reasonably be held responsible. 

The well-being of the factory operative is now far in ad- 
vance of that of the agricultural laborer. In the condition 
of the rural population there is still much to deplore. 
Unsanitary cottages, low wages, excessive hours of toil, the 
employment of women and children at brutalizing tasks — 
these and many other evils have alarmed the philanthropist 
and attracted attention to the need of reform. Little has 
as yet been accomplished here. The Agricultural Union 
movement so bravely inaugurated by Joseph Arch, and 

protective legislation forced through against the bitter op- Agricultural 
^ & & i Children's Act, 

position of the landed interest, have alike proved ineffec- 1873, repealed 



tive. The degradation of the agricultural laborer is to-day 
a blot on the fair fame of England. 



in 1876. 



282 



The Growth of the English Nation. 



PAUPERISM. 

Any review of the social and industrial conditions of 
modern England would be incomplete without some notice 
of the growth of pauperism and the efforts made to check 
this menace to the nation's health. The industrial up- 
heaval of the last century accomplished, like the corres- 




Old-time Fire Engine. 



Poor rate per 
head of popu- 
lation : 

1750, 2s. 2d. 
1760, 3s. 
1770, 3s. 6d. 
1780, 4s. 5d. 
1790, 5s. lid. 
1800, 8s. 5d. 
1810, 10s. 3d. 
1818, 13s. 4d. 
1820, 12s. 2d. 
1830, 9s. 9d. 
• * * * 

1890, 5s. 9d. 



ponding revolution in the sixteenth century, results both 
good and bad. In each case an immense gain in material 
wealth was achieved at the expense of the well-being of the 
laborers. Machinery, no less than the sheep pastures, de- 
prived thousands of the means of self-support and drove 
them to seek aid at the hands of parish officers or private 
almsgivers. From 1750 to 1820, the years in which the 
factory system was becoming established, the growth of 
pauperism was appalling. The poor rate augmented till it 
reached the alarming proportions of one fourth the national 
revenue, and became to the taxpayer an intolerable bur- 
den. The phenomenal increase in the number of paupers 
was due in part to unwise methods of relief, in part to the 
demoralizing effect of the Napoleonic wars, in part to the 
mischievous corn laws that not infrequently raised tbe price 
of bread to famine rates ; but the main cause was the in- 



Industrial Progress. 



283 



dustrial change that rendered opportunity for employment 
uncertain and left the laborer dependent on precarious 
wages. No legislation has yet touched the fundamental 
difficulty. Parliament has undertaken little more than the 
regulation of relief. The burden of the poor rate is now but 
one third of what it was in 1834, and the number of 
paupers has been greatly reduced, but there is still the 
problem of the "submerged tenth." 

The most hopeful feature of the times is the awakening 
of the social conscience. People's Palaces, Toynbee Halls, 
improved tenements, university extension, these and as 
many more generous efforts to better the conditions of life 
and labor for the working classes bear witness to the new 
spirit of brotherhood that controls the thought of to-day. 
This new ideal astir in England, has found noble expression 
through the voices of Carlyle, Ruskin, and William Morris. 




Salisbury. Archbishop of Canterbury. 
"Proputty, Proputty, Proptjtty." 
" Doesn't thou 'ear my 'erse's legs, as they canters awaay ? 
Proputty, proputty, proputty— that's what I 'ears 'em saay. . . 
Proputty, proputty's iv'rything 'ere, an', Sammy, I'm blest 
If it isn't the saame oop yonder, fur them as 'as it it's the best. . . 
Coom oop, proputty, proputty— that's what I 'ears 'em saay, 
Proputty, proputty, proputty, canter an' canter awaay." 

— Tennyson's "Northern Farmer : New Style." 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

The Expansion of England. 

Illustrative Readings. 
History of Ireland ; McCarthy. Macaulay's Essays on Clive and 
The Virginians ; Thackeray. Hastings. 

The Lady of Fort St. John ; Mrs. Tales from the Hills ; Kipling. 
Catherwood. 

THE BRITISH ISLES. 

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland had 
no existence before the seventeenth century. Scotland was 
an independent and jealous state. Ireland was but half 
conquered and wholly uncivilized, the English within " the 
Pale " existing as an alien colony in the midst of a hostile 
race. The amalgamation of the three kingdoms was ac- 
complished under the Stuarts and the Commonwealth. 
The accession of James I. established a dynastic connec- 
tion between England and Scotland, while the civil war 
afforded Cromwell opportunity to reduce the Irish to sub- 
jection. The formal union with Scotland was not, how- 
Union with 

Scotland, 1707; ever, effected until 1707, while the incorporation of Ireland 
with Ireland, 

1800. was delayed till 1S00. The reconciliation of conflicting in- 

terests has been a delicate matter. In the case of Scotland, 
race feeling and religious differences were outweighed by 
the signal industrial advantage of free trade with England 
and England's colonies ; but the breach between England 
and Ireland has not been so readily healed. Both king- 
doms are represented in the English Parliament, and are 
thus secured a proportionate influence in national legisla- 
tion. 

281 



S.SS 22: ^ g S gift m 




The Expansion of England. 285 

COLONIAL EXPANSION. 

The discovery of America and of the new route to India 
by way of the Cape of Good Hope revealed two new worlds, Discovery and 
an eastern and a western, to the maritime enterprise of the°American f 
Europe, and the explorations of the sixteenth century con ment - 
opened up vast realms of untold wealth inviting conquest 
and colonization. The seafaring nations of western Europe 
were not slow to respond to the call. Spain, being first in 
the field, took possession of the richest regions, Mexico, 
Peru, and the West Indies. Portugal, more enterprising 
but less fortunate, pushed her interests in the East In- 
dies, in West Africa, and in Brazil. Holland followed in 
the wake of Spain and Portugal. Getting a foothold in the 
East Indies, she established trade relations with the spice 
islands of the Indian Archipelago. At the Cape of Good 
Hope, moreover, and along the Hudson River, she planted 
flourishing colonies. France entered later upon the quest, 
but secured extensive domains on the Western Continent. 
Early in the seventeenth century her adventurous mari- 
ners explored the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes, 
crossed to the Mississippi and so on to the Gulf of Mexico, 
thereby establishing exclusive right to the two great river 
valleys. The French settlements were, however, mere 
military posts maintained to secure trade with the Indians 
and to protect the Jesuit mission stations. Despotism, 
civil and religious, such as characterized the France of 
Louis XIV., was not favorable to the growth of colonies. 

It is a significant fact that England was the last of the 
great European powers to enter upon colonial enterprise. 
The Cabots had been assisted by Henry VII. to undertake 
a voyage of discovery. They explored the North Ameri- tianCabot. 
can coast from Cape Breton to Albemarle Sound, and to 
this portion of the New World the English thus secured 
preemptive right. Unsuccessful attempts to plant colonies 



1498. 



286 



The Gh-owth of the English Nation. 



Frobisher. 
1576. 

Raleigh. 

1584. 



The English 
colonies. 



Commercial 
wars. 



were made in the reign of Elizabeth by the doughty sea- 
captain, Frobisher, and the courtly gentleman, Sir Walter 
Raleigh, but no permanent settlements were effected till 
the seventeenth century. Ultimate success was due not so 
much to the trading companies established by James I. as 
to the determination of the colonists who came, some in 
pursuit of gain, but more to seek in the New World the 
political and religious freedom that was denied them at 
home. The Puritan settlements struck deep root in the 
virgin soil of America and thrived under the beneficent 
neglect of a government too much occupied with home 
politics to concern itself with colonial interests. Not till 
the close of the century did England awake to the fact 
that this chain of seaboard colonies might become a source 
of strength and profit to the mother country, and must be 
defended against their dangerous French rivals. 

England's part in the European wars of the eighteenth 
century was determined by her purpose of winning and 
maintaining a predominant interest in America. From the 
continental point of view, the occasion for the war was 
usually dynastic, but England's object was uniformly the 
extension of commercial and colonial interests. It was 
one long duel between France and England, "a second 
hundred years' war." The contending armies fought not 
only on European battle-fields, but in Acadian forests, on 
the heights above Quebec, before the rude fortresses that 
controlled the unknown valleys of the Ohio and the Missis- 
sippi. England won nothing in Europe beyond an added 
prestige, but wide territories were annexed to her American 
domain. By the Peace of Utrecht (1713) she gained Nova 
Scotia and Newfoundland. In the Peace of Paris (1763), 
France was forced to surrender the bulk of her American 
possessions, Canada and all the rich region east of the 
Mississippi, together with her islands in the West Indies. 



The Expansion of England. 287 

In the American campaigns, efficient aid had been ren- 
dered by the English settlers, who, being not priests and 
soldiers but bona fide colonists, took up arms against the 
French, not merely out of loyalty to the mother country, 
but in defense of their homes. Grown prosperous and 
strong in the wholesome conditions afforded in the un- 
spoiled wilderness, they had established representative 
governments far more liberal than the English model, 
opened a profitable trade with the West Indies, set up 
manufactures of their own, and were in a fair way to 
become independent. Turgot, a wise French statesman of 
the day, compared colonies to fruit which hangs on the 

tree only until it is ripe. England's colonies in America England's 

colonial policy, 
were nearly ripe, but the English government failed to 

perceive it. The colonial policy of George III. and his 
cabinet was suggested by the perverted notion prevalent in 
that day of the use to be made of such dependencies. A 
colony was regarded not as an extension of national terri- 
tory — an opportunity for national expansion — but as a piece 
of property, an estate to be exploited in the interest of the 
country owning it. Spain, Portugal, and Holland treated 
their foreign possessions as mere sources of supply for gold 
and silver, tropical fruits, and spices. England's colonies 
produced none of these, but they might be made a market 
for home products and a source of raw material for the rising 
manufactures of England. " The only use of American col- 
onies or West Indian islands," said Lord Sheffield, "is the 
monopoly of their consumption and the carriage of their 
produce." In conformity with this frankly expressed doc- 
trine of national greed, the English government imposed 
restrictions on colonial trade which were calculated to in- 
sure its profits to the home country. All exports must be 
sent to England, and all trade must be carried on in 
English vessels. Colonial industries were discouraged, the 



288 



The Growth of the -English Nation. 



The American 

War. 

1776-1783. 



Conquest 
of India. 
1748-1763. 



manufacture of woolen goods and the smelting of iron 
being actually forbidden. The Americans, having pro- 
tested against this partisan legislation in vain, were devis- 
ing means of securing some constitutional representation 
of their interest in Parliament, when the home government 
assumed the questionable right of taxing the colonies. 
This was resisted, and, resistance being met by com- 
pulsion, the colonists declared themselves independent of 
the mother country. In the war that ensued, England 
was handicapped by the three thousand miles of stormy 
sea that lay between her and her unruly subjects, 
while the colonists had the advantage of fighting on 
familiar ground. France, moreover, was glad to wipe out 
old scores by lending aid to the Americans. In the end, 
England lost the thirteen original colonies, together with 
all the territory lying east of the Mississippi, the better 
part of her American dominion. 

In the Eastern hemisphere, as well as in the Western, 
the superabundant energy of the English race found oppor- 
tunity for achievement. During the seventeenth century, 
trade interests had been developed in India by the East 
India Company, and three fortified posts, Madras, Bom- 
bay, and Calcutta, had been established. French mer- 
chants had also opened commercial relations with the 
Orient, and had secured Indian trading posts — notably 
Pondicherry, a town on the east coast but a few miles from 
Madras. Conflict between the rival races was inevitable. 
Both companies took advantage of dissensions between 
the native princes to extend their power, while the 
home governments supported each its own subjects. The 
East Indian wars were but one phase of the contest for 
supremacy that was being fought out during this century 
in Europe and America. The same year that achieved the 
transfer of the best part of America from France to Eng- 



The Expansion of England. 289 

land witnessed the expulsion of the French from India. 
By this victory the English Company was left to the un- 
hampered pursuit of its own interests. There was slight 
capacity for resistance in the native peoples. India was 
but a "geographical expression." The dense population 
was made up of many races, alien and hostile. The 
Mussulman Empire had fallen into decay, and government 
was reduced to anarchy. Rival princes and satraps levied 
tribute and waged war to the infinite woe of the people. 
It was not a difficult matter for men who could command 
the superior military and diplomatic tactics of Europe to 
gain ascendency amid such weakness and confusion. Clive Misgovern- 
and Hastings made the most of their opportunity. Some- 
times by treachery, sometimes by force, sometimes by 
legitimate negotiation, the native princes were induced to 
surrender their sovereignty, and one province after another 
was compelled to pay tribute. In 1773, the Company's 
charter was renewed on terms which gave the English 
government the right to supervise Indian affairs. The 
civil administration was made responsible to the crown, 
and the unblushing greed which had characterized earlier 
relations with the natives gave way to a sense of responsi- 
bility for the well-being of the country. Still the English 
rule was both alien and corrupt, and was bitterly resented 
by upper-class Hindoos. A widespread mutiny among the 
native troops convinced the home government that radical 
reform was imperative. In 1858, the East India Company's 
charter was withdrawn, and the country so long under its 
control became a dependency of the crown. The oriental Queen Vic- 
empire thus acquired is ten times the area of the United Empress of 6 
Kingdom and more than half as large as the United States. India> 187 '- 
Its population amounts to one seventh that of the wbole 
globe. One hundred different languages are spoken within 
its confines. 



290 



The Groivth of the English Nation. 



Exports to 
England, 
£32,234, 389. 
Imports from 
England, 
£31,177,968. 



e. g., Crimean 
War. 1854-56. 



Discovery of 

Australia. 

1769-1777. 



1837-40. 



This apparently splendid acquisition has thus far been of 
but dubious advantage to England. The government of 
India is a heavy responsibility, far more perplexing than 
that of Ireland. Vexed questions of race and religion 
baffle the ministry at every turn, and frustrate the efforts 
of the best-in ten tioned officers. The administration is as 
un-English as might well be — a bureaucratic service main- 
taining itself by military force. India can never be Angli- 
cized, for the climate is an impossible one for the English 
race. According to the last census, there were but 100,000 
British-born living in India. It is true that the commer- 
cial interests are very great and tend constantly to grow 
more profitable, but England pays dear for her practical 
monopoly of the Indian trade. Russia is her jealous 
neighbor, and conflict of interests on the Bosphorus and in 
the Orient have more than once involved England in war. 

During the nineteenth century a new colonial empire 
has been built up in the far East, by successive discoveries 
and colonization. Australasia was visited by both Portu- 
guese and Dutch explorers early in the sixteenth century, 
but it remained for the famous English navigator, Captain 
Cook, to identify the new continent. Colonization followed 
close upon discovery. The new acquisition was at first used 
as a dumping-ground for convicted criminals, but the 
country was opened to free colonization in 1821. The rich 
grazing lands attracted immigrants and the several colonies 
developed steadily in wealth and population. The discovery 
of gold fields in 1851 confirmed this industrial prosperity. 

As Britain's colonial dependencies developed in wealth 
and population, the question of self-government was sure 
to be broached. Agitation in favor of "home rule" took 
shape first in Canada. The attempt to suppress the move- 
ment having failed, Parliament, profiting by the unhappy 
experience of 1776, granted a responsible government. Since 



The Expansion of England. 291 

1867 Canada has had a constitution "similar in principle to 
that of the United Kingdom." The governor-general, 
acting for the queen, has only authority to appoint the 
ministry that can command a majority of the legislative 
body. Responsible government has subsecpuently been ex- 
tended to the Australian provinces and to Cape Colony, 
and sanguine statesmen look forward to the day when all 
British colonies shall be joined in a great federation, each 
bearing such relations to the imperial Parliament as one of 
the United States bears to our general government. 



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INDEX. 



Abbey lands, the, distributed by 
Henry VIII., 173; not restored, 
177. 

" Adullamites," the, 251. 

Adulterine castles, 72. 

Agincourt, 150. 

Agricola, 25. 

Agricultural Holdings Act, 257. 

Agriculture, under the Romans, 
26 ; in the twelfth century, 72 ; 
under the Tudors, 188; in the 
eighteenth century, 266-269. 

Aidan, 37. 

Alfred, saves Wessex, 39 ; reorgan- 
izes the kingdom, 40. 

American War, the, 233-235, 238. 

Anderida, 29. 

Angevins, the, characteristics of, 
71. 

Angles, the, invade Britain, 27, 29. 

Anglesey, 25. See Mona. 

Anglo-Saxons, the, characteristics 
of, 32-35. 

Anjou, 62 ; lost by John, 89 ; finally 
lost, 153. 

Anne, 222, 227. 

Anne Boleyn, 171. 

Anselm, comes to England, 63; 
quarrels with Henry I., 66, 90. 

Apprentices, Statute of, 187. 

Aquitaine, duchy of, dowry of 
Eleanor, 73 ; finally lost, 153. 

Arkwright, Richard, 272, 273, 278. 

Armada, the, 10 ; destruction of, 
185, 187. 

Arthur, nephew of John, 89. 

Arthur, son of Henry VII., 168. 

Articles, the ten, 173; the six, 174; 
the forty-two, 176; the thirty- 
nine, 182. 

Artisans, the, 136-138 ; in the nine- 
teenth century, 276. 

Aryans, the, 22. 

Athelney, Alfred takes refuge in, 
39. 

Augustine, converts Kent, 35. 

Australia, 14, 17 ; discovery of, 290. 

Avignon, 132. 

Babington Plot, 185. 

Bacon, Francis, 195; impeached, 
200. 

Bacon, Roger, 97, 125. 

Badon, Mount. See Mount Badon. 

Baeda, 37, 40. 

Ball, John, 142 ; put to death, 144. 

Balliol, John, declared king of 
Scotland, 106. 



Bank of England, suspends specie 
payment, 241. 

Bannockburn, 108. 

Barebone's Parliament, origin of 
the name, 210. 

Barnet, 157. 

Barons' War, the, 98, 102, 103. 

Barri, Gerald de, 83. 

Beaconsfield, Earl of, becomes 
prime minister, 256 ; defeated, 
258. 

Beaufort, Henry, Bishop of Win- 
chester, 152. 

Becket. See Thomas, Archbishop 
of Canterbury. 

Bede, "Ecclesiastical History" of, 
37, 40. 

Bedford, John, Duke of, 152 ; dies, 
153. 

Benedictines, the, 72. 

Benevolences, 158 ; declared illegal, 
159. 

Bernicia, 29. 

Black Death, the, 119, 139. 

Black Prince, the, 116, 117 ; dies, 119, 
120. 

Blake, Admiral, gains victories 
over Holland, 211. 

Bolingbroke, viscount, 232. 

Bosworth, 159. 

Both well, Earl of, career of, 182. 

Bouvines, 92. 

Bretigny, Peace of, 117. 

Bright, John, supports reform, 261 ; 
opposes Home Rule, 261. 

Britain, origin of name, 22 ; in- 
vaded by the Romans, 24 ; under 
Roman rule, 25-27; conquered by 
the Saxons, 30. 

Britons, the, early condition, 22, 24- 
27 ; conquered by the Saxons, 28- 
30. 

Bruce, Robert, 108. 

Buckingham, GeorgeVilliers, Duke 
of, 199 ; impeached, 201 ; dies, 202. 

Bunyan, 213. 

Burgh, Hubert de, justiciar under 
Henry III., 94, 95. 

Burke, Edmund, supports Ameri- 
cans, 234 ; attacks French Revo- 
lution, 237. 

Burns, 243. 

Bute, Earl of, 233. 

Butt, Isaac, leads Irish party, 257. 

Byron, Lord, 243. 

Cabinet, the, defined, 226; corrup- 
tion in, 230 ; established, 238. 



295 



296 



Index. 



Cade, Jack, 154. 

Csedmon, 37. 

Csesar, describes the Celts, 22, 23; 
invades Britain, 24. 

Calais, 153 ; lost, 179. 

"Canterbury Tales," the, 124-127. 

Cartwright, invents the power 
loom, 273. 

Catharine of Arragon, marries 
Prince Arthur, 168; divorce of, 
170-172. 

Catholic Association, the, 253. 

Catholic emancipation, 253. 

Catholics, the Roman, legislation 
against, 182-184; enforced by 
James I., 198; favored by Laud, 
202; disabilities increased, 214, 
217, 218; favored by Charles II. 
and James II., 216, 220; nothing 
done at Revolution of 1688, 225 ; 
disabilities removed, 253. 

Caxton, William, 165. 

Celts, the, 14, 22, 23, 30. 

Chamberlain, Joseph, opposes 
Home Rule, 261. 

Charles I., 200-209. 

Charles II., 213-220. 

Charles VI., of France, 150, 151. 

Chartists, the, 248-251, 259. 

Chatham, Earl of, 234. See Pitt, 
William (the Elder). 

Chaucer, Geoffrey, 124, 127, 131. 

Chronicle, the Anglo-Saxon, 40; 
quotations from, 49, 51, 58. 

Churchill, Lord Randolph, leader 
of " fourth partv," 259. 

Cistercians, the, 65, 72. 

Clarence, Duke of, 154. 

Clarendon, Earl of, 214-216. See 
Hyde, Edward. 

Clarendon, Assize of, 74 ; Constitu- 
tions of, 75. 

Closure, defined, 258. 

Cnut, 44, 45. 

Coalition Act, 278, 279. See Covin 
and conspiracy. 

Coalition ministry of Fox and 
North, 235. 

Cobbett, 243. 

Colet, 194. 

Colonial expansion, 285-291. 

Columba, 37. 

Commerce, 190, 191, 211, 286. 

Common lands, 188. 

Commons, House of, origin of, 106, 
118, 119 ; electors of, 162 ; in the 
eighteenth century, 228 ; re- 
formed, 247, 252, 259. 

Commonwealth, the, 209-213. 

Compurgation, system of, 34. 

Confirmation of the Charter, 108, 
111. 

Conservatives. See Parliamentary 
parties. 

Conventicle Act, 214. 

Convention Parliament, 213. 

Corn Laws, 242 ; repealed, 249. 



Copyhold, 162. 

Corporation Act, 214. 

Country party. See Parliamentary 

parties. 
Covenant, accepted by Parliament, 

Covin and conspiracy, statute 

against, 140. 
Cranmer, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, 178. 
Crecy, 116. 
Crompton, invents the mule- jenny. 

272, 273. 
Cromwell, Oliver, 206-213, 247, 252. 
Cromwell, Richard, 212, 213. 
Cromwell, Thomas, 172-175. 
Curia Regis, 55, 74, 76. 
Danby, Earl of, 217; impeached, 

218. 
Danelaw, the, formation of, 39; 

conquered by Wessex, 40. 
Danes, the, invade England, 38-10 ; 

conquered, 41 ; return, 43-45. 
Darnley, Henry, Lord, marries 

Mary, 181, 182. 
Declaration of Indulgence, issued 

by Charles II., 217; by James 

II., 221. 
Deira, kingdom of, 29. 
Deorham, 30. 
Derby, Earl of, forms ministry, 

251, 252. 
Disabling Act, the, 218. 
Dispensers, the, 113, 114. 
Disraeli, 252, 256. See Beaconsfield, 

Earl of. 
Domesday Survey, 55, 56, 67, 69. 
Dominic, St., 96. 
Dominicans, the, land in England, 

96. 
Douay, college at, 184. 
Dover, Treaty of, 216. 
Druids, the, described by Csesar, 

23,25,26. 
Dunstan, 41. 
Ealdormen, the, Saxon leaders, 32, 

34 ; power of, 42, 43 ; disarmed by 

Cnut, 44. 
Earldoms under Cnut, 44. 
Earls, the. 32, 44, 45. 
East Anglia, 31, 42. 
East India Company, incorporated, 

191; conquers India, 288; mis- 
governs, 289. 
Ecclesiastical courts, jurisdiction 

of, 65 ; quarrel over, 75, 76, 78. 
Edgar, 40, 41. 

Edgar, the Atheling, 50-52, 59. 
Edmund Ironsides, 44. 
Edward, the Confessor, 45, 46. 
Edward I. and the barons, 101 ; at 

Evesham, 102, 103; reign of, 103- 

108. 
Edward II., 112-114. 
Edward III., 114-120. 
Edward IV., crowned king, 155; 

rule of, 156-158. 



Index. 



297 



Edward V.. 158-159. 

Edward, Prince of Wales. See 

Black Prince. 
Edward, Prince of Wales, son of 
Henry VI., born, 154 ; claims set 
aside, 155; slain, 157. 
Edward VI., 175-177. 
Edwin, king of Northumberland, 

31 ; accepts Christianity, 30. 
Egbert, king of Wessex, unites 

England, 31, 38. 
Eleanor, of Aquitaine, marries 

Henry II., 73 ; dies, 89. 
Elizabeth, 179-186, 190, 191. 
England, character of the country, 

14-16. 
Enclosures, 188, 268. 
Erasmus, 194. 
Essex, 29 ; conquered, 31. 
Ethandun, 39. 
Ethel bert, 35. 
Ethelred, 43, 44. 
Evesham, 102. 
Evictions, 188. 
Exchequer, Court of, 74. 
Exclusion Bill, 218, 219. 
Factory Legislation, 279-281. 
Falkland, viscount, 206. 
Fawkes, Guy, 198. 
Fenians, the, 254. 

Feudalism, in England, 42, 43; des- 
cribed, 54, 55. 
Five-Mile Act, 214. 
Flambard, Ranulf, 57, 65. 
Flanders, controlled by France, 

121; trade with, 136, 187. 
Flemings, the, come to England, 

136, 190. 
Folk-moot, described, 34. 
Fox, Charles James, 235, 237. 
France, feudalism in, 42; invaded 
by Northmen, 47 ; war with, 78, 
" 89, 106, 107, 11.5-118, 150-153; be- 
comes a centralized state, 167 ; 
war renewed, 179 ; rival of Spain, 
179 ; war renewed, 201 ; alliance 
with, 215, 216 ; 237, 241, 286. 
Francis d' Assisi, St., 96. 
Franciscans, the, 96, 131. 
French Revolution, the, 237, 241. 
Friars, the, 9-5-97, 133. 
Fyrd, the, 39. 
Gaels, the, 22. 
Gaul, 24. 
Gaunt, John of, 120, 121 ; attacks 

the Church, 133, 134. 
Gaveston, Piers, 113. 
George I., 227, 228. 
George 11., 228, dies, 231. 
George HI., policy of, 232 ; reign of, 
232-235. ' 

George IV., 245. 
Oesiths, the, 32. 
Gilds, the, 85, 86 ; crafUgilds, 137- 

139 ; under the Tudors, 189. 
Gladstone, William Ewart, 251 ; 
leads Liberals, 254 ; defeated, 255; 



prime minister, 258; brings in 
Home Rule Bill, 260; defeated, 
261 ; becomes prime minister, 262; 
on the House of Lords, 265. 
Gloucester, Robert of, 82. 
Gloucester, Duke o£ son of Ed- 
ward III., 121. 
Gloucester, Duke of, brother of 

Henry V., 151, 152. 
Gloucester, Duke of, brother of 
Edward IV., 158, 159. See Rich- 
ard III. 
Godwin, Earl of Wessex, 44, 45. 
Good Parliament, 120. 
(irand Remonstrance, 206. 
Great Council, 55, 77 ; composition, 

93; name changes, 100. 
Great Charter, 82, 93-94. 
(iregory VII., 65, 66. 
Grey, Earl of, 237 ; becomes prime 

minister, 245, 246. 
Grey, Elizabeth, marries Edward 

IV., 156. 
Grey, Lady Jane, 177. 
Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, 96. 
99. ' 

Gualo, papal legate, 94. 
Guises, the, 184. 
Gunpowder Plot, the, 198. 
Habeas Corpus Act, 220. 
Hampden, John, resists ship- 
money, 203 ; in Long Parliament, 
206. . ' 

Hampton Court conference, 198. 
Hanover, House of, given the 

throne, 227. 
Hargreaves, invents the spinning- 
jenny, 272, 273. 
Harold, son of Godwin, 45; crowned 

king, 50; dies, 51. 
Hartington, Lord, 261. 
Hastings, Battle of, 51. 
Hastings, Warren, 289. 
Henry I., 59 ; dies, 60. 
Henry II., 62 ; comes to throne, 71 ; 
reforms of, 72-77; dies, 78; work, 79. 
Henry III., crowned, 94 ; misrule 

of, 98-103. 
Henry I V., 147-149. 
Henry V., 149; invades France, 

150 ; dies, 151. 
Henry VI., 151; crowned, 152; be- 
comes insane, 153, 154; over 
thrown, 1,55 ; dies, 157. 
Henry VII., 159 ; reign of, 167-169. 
Henry VIII., h>9; wishes divorce, 
170-172 ; attacks Church, 172-174 ; 
popularity, 175. 
Henry of Navarre, 185. 
Hereford, Duke of, 122. See Henrv 
IV. J 

Heretics, Statute for the burning of. 

148. 
Hereward, the Wake, 53. 
High Commission, Court of, 203. 
Holland, rivalry with, 211 ; war 
with, 215, 216. 



298 



Index. 



Home Rule, 290; demand for, 257; 
supported by Gladstone, 2(30. 

Home Kule Bill, first, 260 ; defeated, 
261; second, passes the House of 
Commons, 262 ; thrown out by 
the Lords, 263. 

Huguenots, the, 183, 185. 

Hundred court, 33. 

Huntington, Henry of, 83. 

Hyde, 206. See Clarendon, Earl of. 

Iberians, the, 22. 

India, conquest of, 288; misgovern- 
ment of, 289. 

Innocent III., 90, 91. 

Instrument of Government, 210. 

Interdict, England under, 90. 

Iona, 9 ; monastery in, 37. 

Ireland, physical characteristics of, 
9, 14, 19, 20; Henry II. in, 77; 
rebellion in, 206; represented in 
Parliament, 212; union with 
England, 238 ; relations with Eng- 
land since Cromwell, 252, 253 ; 
population of, 254 ; Church in, 254- 
255. See Home Rule. 

Irish Land Act, 255, 258. 

Irish question, the, 252-262. 

Irish University Bill, 255. 

Ironsides, Cromwell's, 207, 208, 211. 

Isabel, wife of Edward II., 114. 

Jacobins, the, 240, 242, 243. 

Jacobites, t he, 227, 232. 

James I., obtains crown, 197; char- 
acter of reign, 198-200. 

James II., Duke of York, attempt 
to exclude from throne, 218; 
character of, 220 ; issues Declara- 
tion of Indulgence, 221 ; de- 
throned, 222, 223. 

Jesuits, the, 184. 

Jesus, Society of, 183. 

Jewish money-lenders, 111. 

Jingoism, 256. 

Joan of. Arc, 152. 

John, intrigues of, 79,80, 81 ; charac- 
ter of, 88 ; loses Normandy, 89 ; 
quarrels with pope, 90; with 
barons, 91, 92 ; grants Charter, 93; 
dies 94. 

Junto', the Whig, 227. 

Juries, system of, 74, 82. 

Justice, early system of, 33. 

Jutes, the, 27-29. 

Kay, John, invents fly shuttle, 272, 
278. 

Kent, settled by Jutes, 28; con- 
verted to Christianity, 35. 

King's Bench, Court of, 104. 

Knights of the shire, in Parlia- 
ment, 106, 119. 

Laborers. 187-188, 191-193, 276-281. 

Laborers Dwellings Act, 257. 

Laborers, Statute of, 139, 140. 

Labouchere, proposes to abolish 
House of Lords, 264. 

Lancaster, House of, 157, 158. 

Lancaster, Thomas of, 113. 



Land Purchase Bill, 260. 

Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, 66. 

Langland, William, 124, 127-129. 

Langton, Stephen, made arch- 
bishop, 90; leads the barons, 92, 
94, 95. 

Latimer, Bishop, 163 ; put to death, 
178. 

Latimer, Lord, 120, 121. 

Laud, Archbishop, 202, 204. 

Leicester, Earl of. See Montfort, 
Simon de. 

Levelers, the, 211. 

Lewes, 102. 

Liberals. See Parliamentary par- 
ties. 

Litany, English, 176. 

Liveries. See Maintenance and 
livery. 

Lollards, the, 135, 141 ; legislation 
against, 148 ; put down, 150. 

London, under the Romans, 26 ; 
taken by theSaxons,29 ; acquires 
self-government, 84; center of 
trade, 187. 

Longchamp, William, justiciar, 80, 
81. 

Long Parliament, 205; dissolved, 
209. 

Lords, House of, origin, 118 ; abol- 
ished, 209 • restored, 210 ; resists 
reform, 245-247 ; resists Home 
Rule, 262; proposal to abolish, 
264, 265. 

Lords Appellant, 121, 122. 

Lords Ordainers, 113. 

Louis IX. of France, 102. 

Louis XIV. of France, 215-217, 222. 

Luther, Martin, 170. 

Lyons, 120, 121. 

Magna Charta, 88. See Great Char- 
ter. 

Maine, conquered by William I., 
50; lost by John, 89. 

Maintenance and livery, 161, 162; 
statutes against enforced, 168. 

Malmesbury, William of, 49, 83. 

Manchester Massacre, the, 244. 

Maletot, 108. 

Manufactures. 138, 189, 269. 

Map, Walter de, 83. 

March, Earl of, 149. 

Margaret of Anjou, 153, 155-157. 

Marlborough, Duke of, 227. 

Marston Moor, 208. 

Mary II., wife of William III., 222, 
223. 

Mary Stuart, 181, 182 ; put to death, 
185. 

Mary Tudor, 170, 177-179. 

Matilda, daughter of Henry I., 
claims the crown, 60-62. 

Mercia, 29; supremacy of, 31; ac- 
cepts Christianity, 36. 

Merciless Parliament, 121, 122. 

Model Parliament, 106. 



Index. 



299 



Monasteries, dissolution of, 173. 

Monmouth, Duke of, 220. 

Monmouth, Geoffrey of, 83. 

Monopolies, protested against, 191 ; 
revived, 199, 203. 

Montfort, Simon de, 101 ; leads the 
barons, 102 ; killed, 103. 

More, Sir Thomas, put to death, 
173 ; and the Renaissance, 191, 195. 

Mortimer, Roger, 114. 

Mount Badon, 29. 

Napoleon, 241. 

Naseby, 208. 

Navigation Act, 211. 

Navy, the, 39 ; under the Tudors, 
190; under Cromwell, 211. 

Netherlands, the, revolt against 
Spain, 183, 184. 

New Model army, 207. 

Norman Conquest, 60-56; results of, 
62-70. 

Normandy, 48 ; reunited with Eng- 
land, 59; revolts against Henry 
II., 78 ; lost, 89. 

Normans, the, 48, 49 ; in England, 
62, 82. 

North, Lord, 233 ; resigns, 235. 

Northampton, 155. 

Northmen, the, 38; on the Conti- 
nent, 43, 47. 

Northumberland, 29; conquered, 
31, 40 ; accepts Christianity, 36, 37. 

Nottingham, 206. 

Oates, Titus, 218. 

O'Connell, Daniel, 253. 

O'Connor, Feargus, 250. 

Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, 58. 

Offa, 31. 

Oidcastle, Sir John, 150. 

Old Sarum, 229. 

Open field, described, 188. 

Orange, William of, 222. 

Ordeal, the, 34. 

Oswiu, 36, 37. 

Oxford, Parliament of, 101. 

Oxford, University of, begin- 
ni ng of, 64, 70 ; importance of, 84 ; 
effect of friars on, 96. 

Palmerston, viscount, 251. 

Papal jurisdiction in England, 
abolished, 173 ; restored, 177 ; abol- 
ished, 180. 

Paris, Peace of, 286. 

Parliament, 100; of Simon de 
Montfort, 102 ; Model, 106 ; of 1322, 
114 ; acquired power, 118, 224, 225. 
See Great council, Witenagemot. 

Parliamentary corruption, 228-230, 
233. 

Parliamentary reform, 237-238, 245- 
248, 252, 259. 

Parnell, Charles Stuart, 258. 

Parties, Parliamentary, country 
party, 217 ; Whig, 219, 226, 227, 230, 
232, 233, 236 ; Tory, 219, 226, 227, 232, 
237 ; Patriot, 231 : Liberal, 247, 251, 
254, 256, 258, 260, 261 ; Conservative, 



247, 256, 258, 259, 261, 262; Liberal 
Unionists, 261 ; Nationalists, 258- 
262 ; Radical, 247, 248, 251, 264. 

Paston, Clement, 163. 

Paulinus, 36, 37. 

Pauperism, 191-193, 282-283. 

Peasants' Revolt, the, 134, 141-144. 

Peel, Sir Robert, 249, 253, 280. 

Pembroke, Earl of, 94. 

Penda, king of Mercia. 31, 36. 

People's Charter, the, 248. 

Petition of Right, 201. 

" Piers the Plowman," 127-130. 

Pilgrimage of Grace, 173. 

Pitt, William (the Elder), 231, 234. 

Pitt, William (the Younger), 235, 
236. 

Poitiers, 116, 117. 

Poor Law, Elizabethan, 193; of 1834, 
247, 283. 

Popish Plot, 218. 

Praemunire, Statute of. 131. 

Prayer Book, the. 176, ISO. 214. 

Presbyterian party in Parliament, 
207, 208. 

Pride's Purge, 209. 

Protection, 242, 249. 

Protectorate, the, 210-213. 

Provisions of Oxford, the, 101. 

Provisors, Statute of, 131. 

Puritanism, 198, 213. 

Puritans, the, rise of, 183, 198 ; perse- 
cuted by Laud, 202. 

Purveyance, 112. 

Pym, 205, 206 ; dies, 207. 

Recognitions, 74. 

Reform acts. See Parliamentary 
reform. 

Reformation, the, in England, 166- 
168, 198. 

Reign of Terror, 237. 

Renaissance, the, 194, 195. 

Retainers, 161. 

Revolution of 1688, 222, 223 ; results 
of, 224-226. 

Richard I., 80-82. 

Richard II., 121-123. 

Richard III., 169. See Gloucester, 
Duke of. 

Richmond, Duke of, 235. 

Ridley, Bishop of London, 178. 

Ridolfi Plot, 1&5. 

Rights, Bill of. 225. 

Rising in the North, 182. 

Rizzio, 181. 

Robert, Duke of Normandy, 57-59. 

Rollo, the Ganger, 48. 

Romans, the, invade Britain, 24-28. 

Roseber.v, Lord, 265. 

Rump Parliament, 209. 

Russell, Lord John, 245, 248, 251. 

St. Albans, 1.55. 

Salisbury oath, 55, 56. 

Salisbury, Marquis of, 259, 263. 

Saxon shore, the defense of, 28. 

Saxons, the, conquer Britain, 27-32; 
characteristics of, 32-35. 



300 



Index. 



Scotland, physical characteristics, 
17 ; language, 22 ; succession to 
throne of, 105; war with, 106, 108 ; 
under Mary Stuart, 181, 182 ; re- 
sists Charles I., 204-205 ; supports 
Long Parliament, 207 ; intrigues 
with Charles I., 208; united with 
England, 284. 

Scutage,78, 93. 

MgiiIelp SI 

Serf, 68', 69; in the fourteenth cen- 
turv, 138-140, 145. 

Settlement, Act of, 225, 227. 

Seven Years' War, 231. 

Shelley, 243. 

Ship-money, 203. 

Somerset, Edward Beaufort, Duke 
of, 154, 155. 

Somerset, Duke of, protector under 
Edward VI., 175, 176. 

Spain, 167, 169; connection with 
England, 177 ; at war with Eng- 
land, 184-1&5, 201,211. 

Star Chamber, Court of, 168, 203. 

Stephen, claims the crown, 60-62. 

Strafford, Earl of. See Wentworth, 
Sir Thomas. 

Stourbridge, fair at, 86, 87. 

Suetonius Paullinus, 24,25. 

Supremacy, Act of, 173, 177, 180. 

Tallage, 82. 

Ten Hours Act, 281. 

Test Act, 182, 217, 220. 

Teutons, the, invade Britain, 27-30. 
See Anglo-Saxons. 

Thegns,32, 42. 

Thirty Years' War, 199. 

Thomas, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, 75-77. 

"Thorough," policy of, 203. 

Tinchebrai, 59. 

Toleration, 207, 208, 210. 

Toleration Act, 225. 

Tory. See Parliamentary parties. 

Tostig, brother of Harold, .50. 

Towns, growth of, 69, 70, 84. 

Towton, 155. 

Trades (Tnion Acts, 279. 

Troyes, Treaty of, 151, 152. 

Tyler, Wat, 143, 144. 

Tyndale, William, 170. 

" Ulster right," 255. 

Uniformity, Act of, ISO, 214. 

Union with Scotland, 284; with 
Ireland, 284. 

Universities, the, 64, 84, 96, 97. 

Utopia, 195. 

Utrecht, Peace of, 286. 

Villeins. See Serf. 



Vortigern, 28. 

Wales, physical characteristics of, 
14, 16, 17 ; population of, 20 ; speech 
of, 22; unconquered, 30; con- 
quered, 40 ; subdued by Edward 
1., 104, 105. 

Wallace, Sir William, 108. 

Wallingford, Treaty of, 62 ; exe- 
cuted, 72. 

Wakefield, 155. 

Walls, the Roman, 25. 

Walpole, Sir Robert, 230, 231. 

Walter, Hubert, minister of Rich- 
ard I. and John, 81, 90. 

Wars of the Roses, 155-157 ; effects, 
159, 160. 

Warwick, Richard Neville, Earl of, 
156, 157. 

Warwick, Earl of, minister of 
Edward VI., 176, 177. 

Watling Street, 39. 

Watt, James, invents steam en- 
gine, 273. 

Wed more, Treaty of. 39. 

Wellington, Duke of, 245, 246, 2.50. 

Wentworth, Sir Thomas, attacks 
Buckingham, 201 ; supports 
Charles I., 202, 203, 205. 

Wessex, su premacy of, 31 ; overrun 
by the Danes, 39 ; conquers the 
North, 40. 

West Indies, 285. 

West Saxons, 29. See Wessex. 

Whig. See Parliamentary parties. 

Whitby, 37. 

Wight, Isle of, 9,121. 

William I. (the Conqueror), 49 ; con- 
quers England, 50-56. 

William II. (Rufus), 57, 58. 

William III. (Prince of Orange), 
222; offered the crown, 223; charao 
terof reign, 226, 227. 

Winchester, Statute of, 104. 

Winwaed, 36. 

Witenagemot, described, 42; con- 
tinued in great council, 55. 

Wolsey, Thomas, cardinal, 169, 170; 
overthrown, 171, 172. 

Wordsworth, 242. 

Wyclif, John, 124; and Church re- 
form, 132-135 ; doctrines accepted, 
148. 

York, 25, 26. 

York, James, Duke of, 218. See 
James II. 

York, Richard, Duke of, 154, 155. 

Young, Arthur, 267, 269. 

" Young Ireland," 253. 



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